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HARDWICKE'S 


SCIENCE-GOSSIP 


Foe  1871. 


CI  I  (     c 


HARDWICKE'S 


4ip4£=<§08Mp: 


AN  ILLUSTRATED  MEDIUM  OF  INTERCHANGE  AND  GOSSIP 


FOR  STUDENTS  AND 


LOVERS    OF   NATURE. 


Edited   by   M.  C.   COOKE,  M.A. 

AUTHOR    OF  "HANDBOOK  OP  BRITISH  FUNGI,"  "A  PLAIN   AND  EASY  ACCOUNT  OP  THE  BRITISH 

FUNGI,"   "MICROSCOPIC  FUNGI,"    "A  MANUAL  OP   BOTANICAL  TERMS,"    AND   OF 

"STRUCTURAL  BOTANY,"  THE    "BRITISH  REPTILES,"  ETC.   ETC. 


LONDON: 

ROBERT   HARDWICKE,    192,   PICCADILLY. 

1872. 


WYMAN  AND   SONS, 
ORIENTAL,   CLASSICAL,  AND   GENERAL  1'RTNTERS, 
GREAT  QUEEN   STREET,   LONDON,  "W.C. 


)(>5  *1 


1871. 


NCE 


again, 


inexorable    Time "    brings    us 
towards  the  close  of  another  year,  and  another 
annual  volume.      It   is   well   that  we   should 
sometimes  be  reminded  of  the  rapidity  with 
which  the  chariot  wheels  of  this  august  per- 
sonage   traverse    the    empyrean.       Somehow, 
every  year  seems  to  slip  by  us  more  rapidly 
than  its  predecessor.    Can  it  be  true  that  more  than  a  few 
weeks  have  passed  since  we  congratulated  ourselves,  and 
our  readers,  on  the  completion  of  our  Sixth  Volume  ?  and 
now  we  are  called   upon    to  perform  the  same  duty  for 
the  Seventh. 

Seven  years,  and  with  them  seven  volumes  of  Science- 
Gossip,  record   our   intercourse  with  some    thousands  of 
"  Students  and  lovers  of  Nature."     If  we  sit  down  to  "  take  stock  "  of 
any  one  year,  we  shall,  perhaps,  feel  disappointment  that  so  little  has 
been  done  by  any  of  us,  or  that  so  little  advance  has  been  made  in  our 
own  special  subject ;  but  if  we  extend  our  inquiry  over  such  a  period  as 
seven  years,  we  are  compelled  to  confess  that  "  the  world  moves  still." 
If  we  take  as  an  example  the  seven  years  just  passing  away,  we  shall 
realize  this  truth.     How  many  Associations  of  Naturalists  for  field  work 
date  their  commencement  within  the  past  seven  years  ?     What  has  been 
the  influence  of  spirit  upon  kindred   spirit  in  such  large  metropolitan 
associations  as  the  Quekett  Microscopical  Club  ?     Indeed,  if  we  only 
inquire  what  has  been  done  in  microscopic  work  during  seven  years  we 
shall,  perhaps,  end   in  astonishment.      In  special   subjects   of  Natural 
History  how  many  useful  volumes  have  appeared  to  meet  the  wants  of 
an  increased  number  of  students.     Let  us  instance  local  floras,  such  as 
those  of  Middlesex,  Norfolk,  Worcester,  &c,  local  avi-faunas,  such  as 
those  of  Norfolk,  Middlesex,  Berks,  and  Bucks ;  or  special  floras,  such 
as  lichens,  fungi,  and    the  diatoms  (in  progress).      The  title-pages  of 
very  many  books  will  prove  that  something  has  been  done  since  1865, 


1871. 

and  that  the  student  of  to-day  has  many  advantages  over  the  student  of 
seven  years  ago,  not  forgetting  the  storehouse  of  facts  which  is  contained 
in  our  own  seven  volumes. 

In  philosophical  Natural  History,  it  is  only  necessary  to  allude  to 
the  two  latest  of  Darwin's  works,  whether  we  accept  their  conclusions  or 
not,  and  to  the  controversy  stirred  up  by  them,  and  by  the  advocates  of 
"  spontaneous  generation/'  to  convince  the  most  sceptical  that  the  past 
seven  years  have  not  been  barren,  but  rather  have  been  fruitful  in  results. 
No  two  theories  have  ever  compelled  men  to  observe,  and  read,  and 
think  so  much  of  the  "  mystery  of  life  "  before.  And  the  bulk  of  con- 
troversy is  included  between  the  commencement  of  1865  and  the  close 
of  1871. 

It  behoveth  us  to  return  to  our  text.  Once  again  we  acknowledge 
the  good  offices  of  all  our  friends,  collaborateurs,  subscribers,  and  con- 
tributors, during  the  past,  whilst  soliciting  the  same  good  offices  for  the 
future.  Our  communion  during  seven  years  has  been  agreeable,  and 
mutually  instructive,  and  now  the  time  has  arrived  for  ns  to  separate, 
and  bid  each  other  "  God  speed."  With  the  close  of  the  present  volume 
its  Editor  retires,  and  having  accomplished  his  seven  years  of  service, 
resigns  his  chair  to  his  successor.  No  material  change  in  the  character 
of  the  journal  is  contemplated.  If  any  effort  is  made,  it  will  be  inspired 
by  the  hope  that  improvement  and  increased  usefulness  will  supervene. 
For  the  past  we  entertain  respect,  for  the  future  hope.  Extending  to  all 
the  hands  that  are  held  out  to  us  for  a  parting  grasp,  our  own  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  not  without  some  regrets  do  we  perform  this  last  act 
of  our  Editorial  reign,  in  wishing  to  each  and  all — 

"A  Happy  New  Year  !  " 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Acanihogorgia  Jonsoni,  60. 
Air  in  Plant- tissues,  91. 
Aithurus  pulytmus,  228. 
Alyssum,  Stellate  Hairs  of,  83. 
Ammonite,  85. 

Ants,  Antenna  and  Spines  of,  246. 
Ants,  White,  and  their  Nests,  2,  3,  4. 
Apparatus  for  Sounding,  138. 
Argonauta  papyracea,  Shell  of,  84. 
Armed  Bull-head,  173. 
Ascidia  mentula,  181. 
Aspidophorus  Europceus,  1/3. 
Avocettula  recurvirostris,  228. 


Banded  Shrimp,  the,  180. 
Barbel,  Scale  of,  188. 
Bat  Flea,  99. 
Bath,  Insects  at,  229. 
Beehive,  Cover  for,  16. 
Bird  Flea,  100. 
Blenny,  the,  174. 
Bopyrus  crangorum,  181. 
Bream,  the  Black  Sea,  175. 


CALAMITE,  202,  203,  204. 
Calosoma  sycophunta,  108. 
Campanulariti  dichotoma,  56. 
Campephilus  vrincipalis,  227. 
Candle-snuff  Fungus,  77,  78. 
Cantharus  griseus,  175. 
Carp,  Scale  of  common,  140. 

Scale  of  Golden,  20. 

Chigoe,  100. 

Ciniflo  similis.  Palpi  of,  37- 

Clione  celata,  and  Spicules  of  do.  253. 

Cnethocampa  processionea,  106. 

Ccenonympha  Davus,  133. 

Coral  Polypes,  61. 

Corystes  Cassivelaunus,  179- 

Crabs,  178,  1/9. 

Cuphoea  platt/centra,  81. 


Dab,  the,  177. 

Diamond.  "  Star  of  South  Africa,"  12. 

Docimastes  ensifer,  2'27- 

Dog  Flea,  99. 


Eel-pout,  Scale  op,  20. 
Elecampane,  129. 
Elephant  Parasite,  132. 
Eunicea,  Spicules  of,  60. 
Eutoxeres  aquila,  228. 


Fasciation  in  CEnotheba,  186. 

Fifteen-spined  Stickleback,  175. 

Fish  Scales,  20,  44,  140,  164,  188,  236,  260, 

280. 
Flea,  Tongue  and  Lancets  of,  156. 
Fleas,  99..  100. 
Flustra  chartacea,  254. 

truncata,  254. 

Fossil  Oolitic  Plants,  157. 


Galathea  squamifera,  1/8. 
Gasterosteus  spinuchia,  175. 
Gill  of  Swordfish,  136. 
Gnat,  Proboscis  of,  109. 
Goatsucker,  227. 
Gobius  niger,  173. 
Gorgoniaflabellum,  54,  58,  60. 

petechialis,  59. 

■  pinnata,  53. 

spiralis,  59. 

verrucosa,  58,  60. 

verticilliare,  54. 

Grantia  compressu,  Spicules  of,  280. 
Grayling,  Scale  of,  164. 

Hair  of  Humble-bee,  140. 
Helianthea  Eos,  227. 
Heliothrix  auriculata,  228. 
Helix  ovata,  Shell  of,  84. 
Hippolyte  varians,  180. 
Hive-cover  for  Bees,  16. 
Homophyton  Githago,  60. 
Humble-bee,  Fish-tail  Hair  of,  140. 
Hydra  viridis,  56. 

Ice-box,  Section  op,  29. 
Jdolocoris  elephantis,  132, 
Insectaria,  Public,  231. 
Insects  at  Bath,  229. 
Inula  Selenium,  129. 
Isis  hippuris,  59. 
lulus  terrestris,  38. 
Ivory  Bill,  227. 

Leptogorgi,  Spicules  of,  60. 
Lesbia  Gouldii,  227. 
Lesser  Weever,  the,  171. 
Linyphia  confusa,  Palpi  of,  37. 
Loach,  Scales  of,  275. 

Markings  op  Podura  Scale,  205. 
Marsh  Ringlet  Butterfly,  133. 
Martins,  Sand,  135. 
Masked  Crab,  the,  179- 
Matthews'  Turntable,  68. 
Melithcea  coccinea,  60. 
Membranipora  pilosa,  254,  255. 
Minnow,  Scales  of,  44. 
Mole  Flea,  99- 

Myrmica  ruginodis,  Antenna  and   Spines 
of,  246. 

Nautilus  pompilius,  Shell  of,  84. 
Nika  edulis,  180. 
Nostoc  commune,  260. 

Onosma  tauricum,  Hairs  of,  83. 
Oolitic  Plants,  Fossil,  157. 
Orange  Peziza,  275. 

Palpi  of  Spiders,  36,  37. 
Parasite  of  Elephant,  132. 
Perch,  Scale  of,  260. 


Perch,  Skeleton  of  the,  170. 
Peziza  aurantia,  275. 
Phaethornis  anthop/tiius,  228. 
Pike,  Scale  of,  236. 
Plants,  Fossil,  Oolitic,  157. 
Plant-tissue  containing  Air,  91. 
Platessa  limanda,  1 77- 
Podura  Scale,  Markings  of,  205. 
Polypes,  Coral,  61. 
Primnoa  verticulosa,  61. 
Proboscis  of  Gnat,  109. 
Processionary  Moth,  106. 

,  Hairs  of,  107. 

Public  Insectarium,  231. 
Pulex  canis,  &c,  99,  100. 

Riphidogorgia  flabellum,  60. 
Rock  Goby,  the,  173. 

Sand  Martins,  135. 
Scales  of  Barbel,  188. 

Common  Carp,  140. 

■  Eel-pout,  20. 

Golden  Carp,  20. 

Grayling,  164. 

Loach,  280. 

Minnow,  44. 

Perch,  260. 

Pike,  236. 

Shoveller,  Bill  of,  229. 
Skeleton  of  the  Perch,  170. 
Snipe,  Bill  of,  229. 
Sounding  Apparatus,  138. 
Spicules  of  Clione  celata,  253. 
Grantia  compressa,  280. 

Sea  Fans,  &c,  60,  61. 

Spongilla  fluviatilis,  280. 

Spiders,  Palpi  of,  36,  37. 

Spongilla  fluviatilis,  Spicules  of,  280. 

Squirrel  Flea,  100. 

"  Star  of  South  Africa  "  Diamond,  12. 

Stellate  Hairs,  83. 

Stickleback,  the  Fifteen-spined,  175. 

Stonechat,  136. 

Strepsodus,  Tooth  of,  45. 

Swan,  Bill  of,  229. 

Swordfish,  Gill  of,  136. 

Tongue  and  Lancets  of  Flea,  156. 

Tooth  of  Strepsodun,  45. 

Truchinus  vipera,  171. 

Trawl,  the,  170. 

Triton  imbricata,  Shell  of,  84. 

Turntable,  Dr.  J.  Matthews',  68. 

Watckeneara  cristata,  36. 

Palpi  of,  36. 

Whinchat,  136. 

White  Ants  and  their  Nests,  2,  3,  4. 
Woodcock,  Bill  of  the,  228. 
Wrasse,  the  Corkwing,  176. 

Xylaria  hypoxylon,  and  Conidia,  &c,  of 
same,  77i  78. 


WHITE    ANTS, 


By    CHABLES   HOENE,   EE.Z.S.,   late   B.C.S. 


HE    nests    of    the 
Termites,  or  White 
Ants,  are  very  com- 
mon in  India;  but 
although    so    com- 
mon, there    is  not 
one    person    in    a 
thousand  who   has 
seen    the    internal 
economy  of  one  of 
these  wonderful  abodes.    I  had 
often  wished  to  do  so,  and  al- 
though I  had  resided  very  many 
years  in  the  country,   during 
most  of  which  I  had  studied 
natural  history   and   collected 
specimens,    it   was    not   until 
twenty  years  or  more  had  passed 
that  I  had  an  opportunity. 

This  was  at  Etawah,  N.-W. 
Provinces,  in  1867,  and  the 
result  was  so  curious  and  in- 
teresting that  I  think  it  worth 
recording  in  Science-Gossip, 
whose  pages  are  devoted  to  such  topics. 

I  had  offered  a  reward  for  a  queen  white  ant, 
and  at  the  same  time  I  determined  to  dig  for  one 
myself ;  not  that  the  natives  were  not  well  aware  of 
the  locality  of  her  abode,  but  that  they  would  not 
take  the  trouble  to  dig  her  out.  I  had  observed 
several  mounds  formed  by  these  insects  near  the 
gate  of  the  court-house,  and  one  morning,  taking 
with  me  three  men,  I  dug  up  the  hard-baked  soil 
in  their  midst.  There  were  five  of  these  conical 
elevations,  the  highest  being  the  central.  This  was 
about  a  foot  and  a  half  above  the  level  of  the 
plain,  whilst  the  four  smaller  ones,  which  were 
placed  at  the  corners  of  a  square  of  perhaps  five 
feet,  in  the  midst  of  which  stood  the  chief  one,  or 
citadel,  were  each  perhaps  eight  inches  in  height. 

It  was  on  the  22nd  of  November,  so  that  there 
had  not  been  any  rain  for  some  months,  and  the 
No.  73. 


grass  was  all  dried  up,  and  the  earth  extremely 
hard.  I  first  cut  off  the  heads  of  each  of  the 
mounds  to  ascertain  the  direction  of  the  chief  gal- 
leries, as  well  as  to  see  which  was  the  residence  of 
royalty,  and  where  the  nurseries  might  be  placed. 

Within  each  eminence  were  large  domed  cham- 
bers supported  on  massive  pillars  composed  of  the 
finest  sand,  all  of  which  had  passed  through  the 
bodies  of  the  workers  ere  it  had  been  incorporated 
into  the  compact  substance  of  which  the  sand  pillar 
was  constructed.  There  were  also  flying  bridges, 
with  footpaths  on  them  trodden  smooth  and  polished 
by  the  passage  of  the  millions  of  feet  of  these  blind 
insects,  into  whose  habitations  light  never  enters. 
All  paths  tended  towards  the  centre,  although  by 
digging  I  came  on  several  granaries  and  sets  of 
nursery-cells.  These  granaries  are  very  curious 
structures,  being  as  slightly  constructed  and  friable 
as  the  general  structure  is  solid,  story  upon  story 
of  cells  supported  by  frequent  walls  and  pillars,  all 
of  which  would  crumble  in  the  hand. 

The  former  are  placed  in  hollow  spaces  excavated 
for  the  purpose,  each  about  the  size  of  a  child's 
head,  and  contain  some  kind  of  food,  supposed  by- 
many  to  be  inspissated  juices  of  the  roots  of  trees, 
and  resembling  in  appearance  little  globules  of 
brown  gum.  There  are  perhaps  three  or  four  such 
granaries  attached  to  every  nest.  The  nurseries 
resemble  the  granaries  in  a  great  measure.  In 
them  grows  a  minute  white  fungus,  much  resembling 
a  button  mushroom,  and  about  the  size  of  a  small 
pin's-head.  This  was  formerly  taken  for  food  by 
many  observers ;  but  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  so. 
It,  however,  abounds  to  such  an  extent  that  it 
causes  the  floor  of  the  cells  to  assume  a  grey  appear- 
ance, the  colour  of  the  earth  being  of  a  light  brown. 
In  these  nurseries,  which  are  in  general  about  the 
same  size  as  the  granaries,  may  be  observed  the 
working  ants  and  nurses  carrying  about  and  feeding 
from  their  own  mouths  the  larvae  in  various  stages. 
These  larvae  are  at  first  very  small,  but  they  are 
cared  for  immediately  they  are  hatched  from  the 

B 


HAUDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


egg,  and  the  period  that  they  remain  in  the  egg 
state  must  be  a  very  short  one,  as  it  is  difficult  to 
find  any  unhatched,  while  we  know  the  rate  of 
production  to  be  many  thousands  per  diem  from 
one  queen.  I  should  state  that  the  external  three 
or  four  inches  of  earth  above  the  mounds  was  honey- 
combed like  a  coarse  sponge,  although  I  could 
perceive  no  openings  on  the  exterior.    It  is  quite 


surface  towards  the  object  they  wish  to  attack,  re- 
maining under  cover  all  the  time,  and  so  would  not 
need  such  an  exit. 

We  dug  out  some  three  feet  of  earth  very  cleanly 
and  carefully  from  under  the  centre  mound,  and 
although  we  had  met  with  many  workers  and 
warriors,  we  had  seen  no  traces  of  king  or  queen, 
or  royal  apartments ;   but  the  next  stroke  of  the 


Fig.  2.  Fungus  in 
White  Ants'  nest. 


Fig.  I.  Galleries  in  White  Ants'  nest. 


possible  that  these  may  have  escaped  my  notice,  as 
that  required  for  a  working  termite  to  pass  through 


Fig.  3.  Fart  of  the  living  rooms. 


Fig.  4.  Queen  Ant. 


is  so  exceedingly  small ;  yet  I  think  that  the  habits 
of  the  insects  arc  against  there  having  been  any 
such,  for  they  run  a  gallery  underground  or  on  the 


spade  revealed  a  sight  I  shall  not  scon  forget. 
Encased  by  three  or  four  inches  of  solidified  earth, 
here  was  the  royal  chamber.  It  was  between  five 
and  six  inches  in  length,  with  a  low  domed  roof  of 
about  one  inch  in  height  and  three  or  four  inches 
in  width.  Its  thick  walls  were  pierced  in  every 
direction  with  the  smallest  holes,  through  which  a 
nurse  carrying  one  egg,  or  a  warrior,  could  alone 
proceed.  There  was  no  gallery  leading  to  this  cell 
that  I  could  observe. 

The  floor  was  trodden  benulifully  smooth  from 
constant  use,  and  in  the  midst  rested  the  Queen 
(fig.  4).  She  was,  as  shown  in  the  plate,  about 
three  inches  in  length,  and  presumably  about  three 
years  old.  Utterly  unable  to 
move  in  any  direction,  here  she 
lived.  By  her  side  walked  the 
King  (fig.  G). 

Both  he  and  the  queen  have 
eyes,  although  all  need  for  them 
would    seem   to    have  ceased 
when    once   they    commenced 
their   reign.       His    feet    ap- 
peared to  be  all  right,  but  the  appearance  of  those 
of  the  queen  was  as  if  she  had  pawed  on  the  ground 
until  she  had  ground  down  her  feet  and  claws  to 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE   GOSSIP. 


their  present  condition.  Her  body  is  said  gradually 
to  increase  in  size  year  by  year,  and  one  writer  on 
West-Indian  Termites  asserts  that  she  lays  80,000 
eggs  per  diem! !  I,  however,  think  that  the  num- 
ber is  overstated. 

In  her  body  nothing  appears  through  the  semi- 
transparent  skin  but  the  ovary,  of  enormous  length, 
folded  together  and  full  of  eggs,  which  ever  move 
forward,  impelled  by  a  peristaltic  motion,  until  laid. 


Fig.  5.  Head  of  Queen  magnified. 


Fig.  6.  King. 


The  royal  pair  were  surrounded  by  a  section  of 
a  compauy  (I  counted  30)  of  warriors.  When  the 
royal  cell  was  broken  into,  these  stood  up  on  their 
hind  legs  to  attack  the  intruder,  and  fastened  on 
my  finger  without  any  fear,  allowing  me  to  carry 
them  away  suspended  in  the  air  by  their  closed 
mandibles.  Their  zeal  and  valour  are  very  sur- 
prising. 


Fig.  7.  Warrior. 


Fig.  8.  Eggs. 


Near,  however,  to  the  tail  of  the  mother,  were 
thirty  or  forty  workers  or  nurses,  for  I  could  detect 
no  difference  in  these  two  classes  under  a  strong 
glass,  and  I  doubt  whether  there  is  any.  These 
waited  for  each  egg  as  laid,  and  trotted  off  with  it 
at  once  to  the  nurseries,  through  one  of  the  many 
galleries,  which  were  in  diameter  about  that  of  an 
ordinary  knitting-needle,  or  one-sixteenth  of  an 
inch.  Other  loyal  subjects  were  feeding  the  queen 
from  their  own  mouths.  Her  appearance  was  most 
helpless,  and  the  king  walked  listlessly  up  and 
down  beside  her,  doubtless  attending,  as  need  be, 
from  time  to  time  to  his  own  functions ;  although 
it  is  probable  that,  once  impregnated,  the  effect,  as 
in  queen  bees,  lasts  during  life  ? 

I  obtained  a  second  queen  the  same  day,  but  I 
did  not  see  the  cell  or  the  nest. 

It  has  been  often  stated  that  if  the  queen  be  dug 
out,  the  nest  will  be  destroyed,  and  never  be  re- 
newed in  the  same  place.  I,  however,  doubt  this, 
as  I  again  dug  up  the  nest  above  described,  three 
months  after  I  had  refilled  the  hole,  and  found  it 
in  full  working  order,  with  new  granaries  and  nur- 


series, in  place  of  those  destroyed  by  me,  although 
I  was  not  able  to  find  a  new  royal  cell,  or  king  or 
queen. 


Fig.  9.  Worker,  nat.  size  and  magnified. 

All  are  aware  of  the  fearful  ravages  of  this  insect 
in  many  parts.  It  was  of  Mainporl  that  it  was  said 
that,  at  certain  seasons,  were  a  man  to  lie  down  to 
sleep  in  a  blanket  on  the  ground,  he  would  awake  in 
the  morning  to  find  his  blanket  eaten  and  his  bones 
picked !  This  is  of  course  an  exaggeration,  but  it 
is  very  wonderful  to  see  the  length  of  covered  gal- 
leries they  will  construct  in  one  night,  and  also  how 
they  will  consume  the  whole  of  the  interior  of  a 
beam,  leaving  only  a  thin  sheet  of  wood  outside 
scarcely  thicker  than  cartridge-paper.  I  have  speci- 
mens of  this,  and  as  a  proof  that  they  can  eat 
through  almost  anything,  I  remember  in  olden  times 
having  seen  a  sheet  of  thick  lead  in  the  museum  of 
the  East-India  House  at  Leadenhail  Street,  which 
had  been  eaten  through  by  them. 

The  following  extract  from  an  Indian  paper,, 
dated  February  23, 18G8,  may  be  deemed  of  interest : 
— "It  may  be  remembered  by  some  of  our  readers, 
that  in  1865  Dr.  Bonavia,  the  Honorary  Secretary 
of  the  Bengal  Agri-horticultural  Society  at  Luck- 
now,  communicated  to  the  Government  that  he  had 
ascertained  that  white  ants  will  not  touch  mats 
made  from  the  fibre  of  the  American  aloe;  and 
further,  that  the  pulp  separated  from  the  fibre  of 
the  leaves  of  that  plant  may  be  profitably  used  for 
mixing  up  with  the  clay  and  cow-dung  used  in  some 
buildings  for  plastering  walls ;  such  plaster  so  im- 
pregnated being  apparently  proof  against  the  in- 
sects. 

Since  then  further  attention  has  been  given  to 
the  subject  in  the  Mauritius.  The  nest  and  exuvia? 
of  the  White  Ant  are  there  made  use  of  as  an  in- 
fusion or  decoction  for  the  treatment  of  certain 
nervous  affections,  particularly  epilepsy,  and  it  con- 
sequently occurred  to  a  Mr.  Bick  that  the  matters 
extracted  from  wood  attacked  by  the  insects  might 
be  found  to  contain  some  principles  similar  to  those 
which  exist  in  chloroform  or  other  anaesthetics.    A 

b2. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Mr.  Fleurot  was  accordingly  solicited  by  the  Horti- 
cultural Society  to  analyze  the  substances,  and  he 
proved  the  presence, in  remarkable  proportions,  and 
in  rather  considerable  quantities,  of  formic  acid  in 
combination  with  iron  in  the  head  and  mandibles 
of  the  insect.    He  accordingly  attributed  the  seda- 


\  'y<7 
Fig.  10,  Winged  female. 

tive  effects  of  the  nest  to  the  combination  of  the 
iron  and  the  formic  acid  in  its  composition,  which 
produces  a  formate  of  iron ;  and  as  he  could  not 
trace  the  presence  of  any  soluble  salts  or  common 
salt  in  the  substance  under  analysis,  he  argued  that 
the  nature  of  the  insect  must  be  antipathetical  to 
salt.  In  proof  of  the  correctness  of  this  opinion, 
lie  has  since  ascertained  that  in  damp  cellars,  where 
white  ants  once  caused  great  destruction  amongst 
casks  of  beer  and,  wine,  they  were  entirely  driven 
away  by  strewing  a  layer  of  common  salt  under  the 
barrels.  He  also  placed  some  white  ants  in  a  space, 
and  surrounded  them  with  a  circle  of  salt,  which 
the  insects  did  not  dare  to  cross. 

"These  facts  were  originally  published  in  a  Port 
Louis  newspaper,  and  are  reprinted  in  a  book  by 
Mr.  C.  J.  Boyle,  just  published.  If  this  theory  holds 
good  in  India,  buildings  in  which  chunam  (lime) 
made  with  sea-water  [this  evidently  applies  to 
Bombay,  where  fresh  water  is  scarce— C.  H.]  has 
been  surreptitiously  employed,  should  be  tolerably 
free  from  this  pest,  and  a  ready  means  is  afforded 
to  planters  and  others  to  protect  themselves  per- 
manently against  the  invasions  of  their  uncompro- 
mising and  insatiable  enemy." 

With  reference  to  the  above,  I  may  remark  that 
I  have  tried  salt  with  the  happiest  results.  Quick. 
lime  in  little  tin  or  iron  trays  is,  however,  more 
commonly  used,  and  the  feet  of  large  racks  in  record- 
rooms  are  often  placed  in  these. 

Before  quitting  the  subject  I  will  gossip  a  little 
about    it. 

The  first  heavy  fall  of  rain  (in  the  North-  Western 
Provinces  about  the  close  of  June)  brings  out  the 
swarms  of  winged  Termites.  At  dusk  it  often 
happens  that  they  begin  to  emerge  from  some  little 
hole  in  the  corner  of  the  room— on  the  floor— half 
way  in  the  wall,  or  from  outside.  In  half  an  hour 
I  he  whole  air  is  alive  with  them.  If  in  the  daytime, 
every  bird  is   eating  them  as  they  fly  out;   the 


"  Gekkho,"  or  little  house  lizard  on  the  wall,  de- 
vours as  many  as  he  can,  till  at  last  he  ceases  with 
the  tips  of  the  wings  and  the  legs  of  one  sticking 
out  of  his  mouth.  The  crows  sail  backwards  and 
forwards  catching  hundreds  ;  the  King-crow  {Dicru- 
rus)  dashes  amongst  them  and  eats  as  many  as  he 
will,  and  all  who  will— eat. 

Meanwhile  the  numbers  increase.  Basins  full  of 
water,  with  a  candle  in  the  midst,  are  put  down,  and 
thousands  flying  to  the  light  are  thus  drowned. 
Every  device  is  adopted  for  destroyin?,  yet  some 
survive,  bite  off  their  own  wings,  and  run  along  the 
ground,  looking  out  for  a  place  of  shelter.  One 
meets  another,  who,  immediately  holding  on  to  his 
abdomen,  follows  him ;  and  thus  one  often  sees  three 
or  four  in  one  chain  holding  fast  and  following. 
But  what  is  of  more  importance  for  maintaining 
the  race,  a  male  meets  a  female,  and  the  two  go  off 
together,  and  getting  under  a  safe  clod,  or  into  some 
corner  or  hole,  start  a  colony. 

Regarding  the  falling  off  of  their  wings,  I  found 
it  most  difficult  to  obtain  winged  specimens.  I 
offered  a  reward  to  my  collectors,  and  I  sat  ready 
with  setting-board  and  pins,  and  then  with  difficulty 
I  obtained  three  or  four.  They  appear  to  fall  off 
directly  they  are  dry,  and  if  they  do  not  speedily 
come  off  of  themselves,  the  insects  assist  nature  and 
pull  them  off. 

It  is  a  very  strange  thing  to  see  a  nice  white 
table-cloth,  in  the  centre  of  which  has  stood  the 
dinner  lamp,  covered  all  over  with  their  wings  ; 
with  wingless  insects  taking  shelter  under  knives, 
spoons,  or  any  little  bit  of  cover. 

Once  immured,  they  never  again  see  the  light ; 
although  how  they  subsist  until  they  have  faithful 
attendants  to  feed  them,  is  one  of  Nature's  puzzles 
which  I  am  quite  unable  to  solve.  One  thing  strikes 
me  as  very  curious,  viz.,  the  manner  in  which  the 
earth  used  passes  through  the  body  of  the  worker 
White  Ant.  The  insect  is  so  transparent  that  it  is 
easily  to  be  seen. 

The  assimilation  of  their  food  is  also  extremely 
strange,  as  they  derive  nutriment  from  wood  ever 
so  dry,  and  from  grass,  and  other  substances,  which 
would  not  appear  to  be  capable  of  yielding  any 
nourishment.  Although  blind,  these  insects  evince 
great  ingenuity  in  getting  at  their  food.  1  have 
often  seeu  them  making  a  covered  way  over  a 
thickly-painted  door,  and  on  reaching  the  bottom 
commence  the  projection  of  a  circular  gallery  of 
several  inches  in  length  at  an  angle,  until  they 
reached  some  suitable  food.  On  one  such  occasion, 
however,  after  all  their  labour,  they  arrived  at  a 
terraced  floor  in  which  they  could  make  no  impres- 
sion. They  then  abandoned  their  gallery,  and  tried 
in  another  direction. 

I  have  watched  the  warriors  visiting  the  working 
parties,  and  retiring  when  they  found  that  all  was 
well.     The  more  one  observes  these  marvellous 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


colonies,  the  more  one  is  at  fault  to  find  the  direct- 
ing guiding  spirit,  and  one  has  to  fall  back  to  the 
instinct  so  wonderfully  implanted  in  them  by  their 
Great  Creator. 

One  reads  of  white  -  ant  hills  in  Africa  and 
America,  upon  which  a  bison  takes  his  stand  to 
look  out.  I  have  never  met  with  such  in  India ; 
alt  bough  occasionally  there  may  be  tbree  or  four 
together,  which  get  broken  dowD,  and  new  mounds 
rise  from  the  top,  whereby  a  height  of  four  or  five 
feet  is  attained,  and  these  mounds  will  bear  any 
weight  without  fear  of  being  crushed. 

The  earth  of  which  they  are  composed  is  prized 
by  masons  for  mixing  in  mortar,  and  truly  it  has  a 
wonderful  tenacity  and  fineness  of  texture. 

In  places  where  these  insects  are  at  all  common, 
one  cannot  place  a  piece  of  stick  on  the  ground 
at  night  without  finding  it  in  the  morning  covered 
with  a  layer  of  earth.  They  are  very  troublesome 
to  beds  of  cuttings,  sometimes  eating  off  all  the 
roots. 

I  used  to  put  a  small  circular  piece  of  copper 
plate  upon  a  larger  piece  of  zinc  plate,  and  then 
stand  the  leg  of  the  wardrobe  in  the  centre  of  the 
copper.  I  never  found  the  insects  to  make  a  gal- 
lery across  this,  which  I  imagine  acted  as  a  kind  of 
galvanic  battery,  when  damped  by  the  moisture  of 
their  earth.  The  rooms  of  many  houses  in  India  are 
laid  with  pitch,  aspbalte,  and  other  preparations. 
This  will  keep  them  out  if  there  be  not  the  least 
crack  in  them  through  which  the  insect  can  come. 
They  will  also  come  over  the  edge,  so  that  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  exclude  them. 

The  large  hornets  are  very  fond  of  them,  and  I 
have  seen  them  catching  them  one  by  one,  and 
making  up  a  ball  wherewith  to  feed  their  young. 
Other  insects  also  eat  them. 

They  cannot  work  without  moisture,  and  although 
they  never  cease  their  labour  day  or  night,  they 
prefer  darkness  for  their  mischievous  deeds.  They 
are  found  in  the  driest  desert  places,  and  where 
they  then  obtain  the  necessary  liquid  is  very  strange. 
Their  cells,  being  so  thickly  coated  with  earth,  are 
comparatively  cool,  and  the  royal  cell,  being  at  a 
depth  of  at  least  three  feet,  keeps  a  very  even  tem- 
perature. 

Everything  they  touch  is  stained  with  their  acid. 
I  once  had  a  large  box  of  miscellaneous  goods  left 
in  Calcutta  for  two  years  in  a  warehouse.  On  my 
return  to  Calcutta,  1  found  the  contents  to  be  a 
mass  of  white-ant  earth,  in  which  were  firmly  im- 
bedded and  well  stained,  six  bronze  wall  bracket- 
shades.  These  alone  they  could  not  eat.  I  sent 
them  to  be  rebronzed,  and  the  native  returned  them 
paiuted  black  !  In  their  case,  however,  the  instinct 
is  truly  blind,  and  the  insect  cannot  see  its  nu- 
merous foes, and  will  rebuild  a  gallery  tenor  twelve 
times,  or  as  often  as  it  is  destroyed. 

When  lying  ill,  I  have  watched  the  gallery  getting 


longer  and  longer  with  the  tiny  secretion  of  each 
ant,  and  when  I  have  had  to  sweep  it  all  away,  I 
have  next  day  seen  the  same  task  repeated,  till  at 
last  the  death  perhaps  of  so  many  workers  has 
deterred  the  main  body  from  continuing  the  work 
after  seven  or  eight  calamities.  The  Palm  or 
Striped  Squirrel  (Sciurus  palmarwm)  is  very  fond  of 
them,  as  are  mice  and  many  kinds  of  birds ;  yet 
their  numbers  steadily  increase,  and  they  were  the 
constant  plague  for  many  years  of  your  Indian 
observer. 


THE    STORY    OP    A    BOULDER. 
By  J.  E.  Taylor,  P.G.S.,  &c. 

EEW  of  my  fellow  story-tellers  can  boast  of 
adventures  equal  to  mine.  My  life  has  been  a 
restless  one,  and  to  see  me  quietly  reposing  in  some 
bed  of  clay,  the  non-geologist  would  little'  suspect 
what  strange  romances  I  could  tell  him.  I  will  do 
my  best  to  recount  them.  Not  many  years  ago  this 
would  have  been  totally  impossible.  At  that  time 
geology  was  chiefly  made  up  of  guesses,  many  of 
which,  however,  proved  to  be  shrewdly  true.  The 
great  sheets  of  sand,  gravel,  and  clay  which  extend, 
more  or  less,  over  the  northern,  midland,  and  east- 
ern counties  of  England — as  well  as  over  the  Con. 
tinent  and  in  the  United  States  of  America,  were 
supposed  to  have  been  the  debris  left  by  Noah's 
Plood,  and  were  therefore  called  "Diluvium."  Rut 
facts  (stubborn  things  !)  bave  accumulated  in  such 
numbers  that  it  is  now  totally  impossible  to  hold 
such  an  idea — much  as  many  people  may  wish  it.  It 
is  seen  that  the  period  of  time  when  such  beds  were 
formed  was  as  peculiar  as  those  of  other  formations, 
and  that  the  physical  circumstances,  if  not  the  pecu- 
liar life-forms,  marked  it  off  distinctly  from  the  rest. 
Hence  the  name  now  given  to  it  of  "  Northern 
Drift,"  or  that  other  of  the  "  Glacial  period,"  which 
latter  I  hold  to  be  the  most  appropriate. 

The  chief  interest  of  the  "  Glacial  epoch  "  is  the 
way  with  which  its  facts  connect  tertiary  life-forms 
and  geography  with  existing  species  and  circum- 
stances. The  geologist  is  able  to  perceive  there 
was  no  break,  such  as  was  originally  supposed,  but 
that  the  present  epoch  is  intimately  related  to  all 
that  have  gone  before,  and  is,  in  fact,  a  continuation 
of  many  of  their  circumstances.  It  therefore  links 
the  present  with  the  past,  in  a  way  for  which  know- 
ledge-seekers cannot  be  too  thankful.  Who  would 
imagine  the  scattered,  disunited  beds  of  clay,  or 
gravel,  or  sand,  could  have  been  so  fruitful  in  geo. 
logical  and  even  general  interest  ? 

Some  of  my  companions  may  boast  of  an  origin 
quite  the  opposite  to  my  own.  Theirs  deals  with 
intense  heat,  mine  with  almost  as  extreme  cold.  Of 
course  I  am  speaking  of  my  present  existence  as  a 
"  boulder,"  for  before  I  entered  that  state  I  formed 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


an  insignificant  part  of  a  great  and  continuous  rocky 
stratum.  What  this  rock  was  composed  of,  matters 
little  or  nothing-,  for  we  "Glacial  Boulders"  have  no 
such  clannish  feeling  as  other  geological  story-tellers. 
We  are  composed  of  all  kinds— and  the  bed  of  clay 
in  which  we  have  been  deposited  may  be  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  lithological  Parliament,  in  which  the 
representatives  of  every  formation  are  assembled. 
But  allow  me,  if  you  please,  rapidly  to  sketch  the 
outlines  of  the  events  which  transpired  before  I  was 
ruthlessly  wrenched  from  my  original  rocky  home, 
and  transposed  into  a  boulder. 

As  many  of  my  hearers  are  aware,  the  earlier  part 
of  the  Tertiary  period  was,  in  England  and  else- 
where, marked  by  an  almost  tropical  climate.  During 
the  Eocene  epoch,  the  seas  of  our  latitude  were  in- 
habited by  'shells  and  fish  of  tropical  types.  The 
dry  land  was  clothed  with  tree-ferns,  palms,  &c, 
and  these  gorgeous  forests  were  frequented  by  huge 
serpents,  strange-looking,  tapir-like  quadrupeds,  aud 
monkeys.  The  rivers,  also,  had  their  alligators  and 
crocodiles.  In  short,  all  the  types  of  land,  fresh- 
water, and  marine  fauna  and  flora,  which  now  distin- 
guish equatorial  regions,  existed  in  England.  The 
rocks  of  this  period  are  full  of  proofs  of  the  truth  of 
what  I  say.  Then  gradually  succeeded  the  Miocene 
epoch,  during  which  the  climature  was  less  torrid- 
Even  then,  the  great  arctic  ice-cap  had  not  been 
formed  at  the  pole,  for  we  have  abundant  evidence 
that  countries  situated  far  north,  such  as  Greenland 
and  Spitzbergen,  were  covered  with  vegetable  forms 
nearly  allied  to  those  now  living  in  South  Carolina, 
Japan,  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  Australia. 
Then  succeeded  the  Pliocene  age,  whose  climate  is 
abundantly  indicated  by  its  fine  "  Crags,"  as  the 
beds  of  shells  are  termed.  The  oldest  of  these  is 
called  the  "  Coralline,"  and  there  may  be  found  in 
it  no  fewer  than  twenty-seven  species  of  shells, 
nearly  allied  to  or  identical  with  those  now  existing 
in  southern  latitudes.  The  "Red  Crag"  comes 
next  in  ago,  and  this  tells  you  by  similar  evidence 
that  the  climate  was  gradually  getting  colder,  for 
the  number  of  southern  shells  has  dwindled  to  thir- 
teen, whilst  there  has  appeared  in  English  latitudes 
species  allied  to  those  now  living  iu  northern  seas. 
Einally,  the  third,  or  "Norwich  Crag,"  supplements 
the  teachings  of  its  relatives  by  its  total  absence  of 
southern  shells,  and  its  much  greater  proportion  of 
arctic  species.  Another  bed  of  Crag,  situated  some 
height  above  this,  still  further  corroborates  the 
remarkable  fact  I  have  been  narrating,  for  its 
greater  abundance  of  northern  forms  is  as  remark- 
able as  that  of  the  older  Norwich  Crag  over  the  rcd- 
About  the  same  age  as  the  latter  bed  is  a  pheno- 
menon, known  as  the  "  Forest  bed,"  which  crops  out 
from  beneath  the  steep  cliffs  along  the  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk  coasts.  It  is  the  site  of  an  old  forest,  now 
paving  the  bottom  of  the  German  Ocean,  and  the 
imbedded  stools  of  trees,  as  well  as  those  of  land  and 


freshwater  plants,  indicate  a  temperate}[mildness  of 
climate,  similar  to  that  now  marking  the  British 
islands — or,  if  anything,  a  trifle  colder,  as  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Scotch  fir  and  Norway  spruce  pine  clearly 
shows. 

My  hearers  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  gradual 
refrigeration  of  climate,  from  tropical  or  subtropical 
conditions,  to  a  temperate  one.  Meantime,  the  slow 
but  sure  change  from  a  warmer  to  a  colder  physical 
circumstance  clearly  prophesied  that  the  next  period 
would  probably  be  marked  by  the  same  law.  Such 
proved  to  be  the  case.  The  change  of  climate  indi- 
cated by  the  several  periods  I  have  mentioned, 
culminated  in  that  "Glacial  period"  during  which 
my  birth  as  a  boulder  took  place. 

After  the  epoch  of  the  "  Crags,"  a  gradual  subsi- 
dence of  England,  as  far  south  as  what  is  now  the 
Thames  slowly  took  place.  Little  by  little  the 
whole  country  sunk  beneath  the  sea,  in  which, 
with  increasing  depth,  there  came  increased  arctic 
cold.  The  greater  part  of  Scotland — certainly 
the  whole  of  the  Highlands— were  covered  with 
glaciers,  or  sheets  of  accumulated  snow,  frozen  into 
ice.  The  snow-line — which  in  England  is  now  some 
thousands  of  feet  above  the  ocean-level — then  was 
gradually  lowered  by  the  greater  cold  until  it  was 
met  with  as  low  as  it  could  possibly  creep.  The 
hills  of  North  Wales,  Cumberland,  Lancashire,  and 
other  places  also  had  their  ice-cap.  To  what  thick- 
ness this  great  ice- sheet  accumulated,  or  what  course, 
I  can  form  no  idea;  but  if  it  was  anything  like  what 
now  takes  place  in  Greenland— and  I  have  every 
reason  for  asserting  that  England  at  the  time  of 
which  I  am  speaking,  experienced  Greenlandic  cir- 
cumstances, rather  than  those  of  any  other  part  of 
the  world — then  this  sheet  of  snow  or  ice  possibly 
grew  to  be  hundreds,  if  not  thousands,  of  feet  in 
thickness.  Such  is  the  case  in  Greenland  at  the 
present  time.  The  fine  snow  accumulates  on  the 
mountain-tops,  and  is  only  got  rid  of  by  its  freezing 
into  a  sheet,  which  is  always  moving  down  to  the 
lowest  level.  In  temperate  and  tropical  climates, 
rivers  carry  off  the  excess  of  moisture — in  arctic 
countries  this  can  only  be  done  by  the  moving  ice- 
sheets,  termed  "  glaciers."  The  Greenland  glaciers 
debouch  into  the  sea  itself.  The  ice-sheet  forms 
grand  sea-cliffs,  hundreds  of  feet  high,  along  whose 
bases  the  angry  sea  eats  caverns,  until  the  toppling 
mass  falls  over,  and  iloats  away  as  an  iceberg.  Or 
the  great  ice-sheet  thrusts  itself  right  into  the  sea,, 
creeping  along  its  bottom  until  it  comes  to  water 
deep  enough  to  buoy  up,  break  off,  and  float  away 
the  extreme  end. 

You  will  have  no  difficulty  in  perceiving  that 
the  immense  mechanical  force  exercised  by  such 
glaciers  on  the  solid  hard  rocks  over  which  they 
creep  must  be  immense.  You  can  easily  conceive 
how  the  latter  must  be  ground  down  and  pounded 
into  mud ;  and  also,  how  fragments  would  be  broken 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


off,  frozen  into  the  great  icy  mass,  and  slowly  carried 
away.  When  that  portion  of  the  glacier  into  which 
some  huge  fragment  has  thus  been  frozen,  reaches  the 
sea,  it  would  be  broken  off,  and  floated  away  as  an 
iceberg,  carrying  the  enclosed  fragment  of  rock  with 
it.  Away  drifts  the  iceberg,  carried  by  oceanic 
currents  in  a  southerly  direction,  until  the  warmer 
waters  gradually  melt  it,  and  then  down  drops  the 
rock  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  to  rest  perhaps  thou- 
sands of  miles  away  from  its  parent  source. 

The  friction  of  a  moving  glacier  elicits  just 
enough  heat  to  melt  a  portion  of  the  ice,  which 
flows  away  as  water,  carrying  with  it  the  finer  mud 
or  sand  set  free  by  attrition.  Hence  all  the  water 
flowing  into  the  sea  is  turbid  with  mud,  and  this 
mud,  as  it  gradually  settles  to  the  sea-bottom,  is 
there  forming  what  will  some  day  be  a  geological 
deposit.  In  this  mud  arctic  mollusca  live  and  die, 
and  will  also  some  day  be  found  fossilized.  It  was 
in  a  similar  bed  to  this  that  I  was  dropped.  Down 
I  sank  amid  the  oozy  mud,  displacing  the  strata, 
and  more  or  less  causing  them  to  assume  a  con- 
torted appearance.  Well  do  I  remember  the  effect 
produced  by  the  largest  boulders,  dropped  in  a  simi- 
lar way  into  the  same  strata.  They  sank  so  deeply 
as  to  cause  thin  beds  of  shells,  which  had  previously 
been  horizontal,  to  wrap  over  and  become  almost 
vertical.  In  the  Norfolk  cliffs,  near  Cromer,  where 
what  is  known  as  the  "Coast  Boulder  Clay," 
attains  a  great  thickness,  you  may  see  masses  of 
chalk  imbedded,  which  cannot  be  less  than  two 
hundred  feet  in  length.  The  soft  sand  and  clay  beds 
near  are  so  contorted  that  you  would  imagine  an 
earthquake  had  produced  the  disturbance ;  but  it 
was  caused  simply  by  the  melting  icebergs  drop- 
ping their  stony  burdens.  Por  ages  this  process 
went  on — the  land  glaciers  grinding  down  the  solid 
rocks,  and  the  sea  currents  strewing  the  debris  over 
the  ocean-floor.  The  icebergs,  also,  added  no  little 
to  the  accumulating  mass. 

I  am  told  that  along  the  North  Atlantic  sea-floor 
there  is  going  on  a  similar  deposit.  The  thousands 
of  icebergs  which  set  out  from  the  north  every 
year  gradually  melt  as  they  near  the  more  southerly 
latitudes.  There  is  a  great  stream  of  warm  water 
called  the  "  Gulf  Stream,"  which  sets  out  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  crosses  the  Atlantic,  aud  impinges 
on  the  southern  and  south-western  coasts  of  Great 
Britain.  When  the  northern  icebergs  come  into 
contact  with  this,  they  rapidly  melt,  so  that,  of 
course,  the  sea-bottom  in  that  place  might  be  ex- 
pected to  be  heaped  up  with  the  debris  they  had 
dropped.  Actual  soundings  prove  this  to  be  the 
case ;  so  that  if  the  North  Atlantic  sea-floor  could 
be  upheaved,  you  would  have  a  series  of  loose 
deposits  of  sand,  mud,  boulders,  &c.,  not  unlike 
those  which  were  formed  during  my  own  lifetime. 

I  am  not  left  without  a  natural  barometer  to  fix 
the  depth  to  which  the  dry  land  went  down.    In 


North  Wales  is  a  hill  called  Moel  Tryfaen,  and, 
near  its  summit,  at  seventeen  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea-level,  is  an  old  sea-beach,  formed  when  the 
submergence  had  reached  its  maximum.  After  this 
there  came  as  gradual  an  upheaval,  and  this  is 
marked  in  various  places  in  Great  Britain  by  a 
graduated  series  of  raised  beaches,  ranging  ia 
height  from  that  above  given  to  those  only  a  fsw* 
feet  above  high- water  mark.  Gradually  the  land 
appeared  more  extensively  above  the  water.  The 
climate  was  still  intensely  cold  and  arctic.  The 
icebergs  coming  from  Scandinavia  frequently, 
brought  with  them  arctic  plants  growing  on  the~ 
frozen  mass  of  gravel  or  sand.  Whenever  these 
icebergs  stranded  on  the  coast,  these  plants  were 
able  to  migrate  inland,  and  very  soon  they  covered 
the  new  land  with  an  arctic  aud  sub-arctic  flora. 
Those  soft  beds  of  sand  or  mud  lying  along  the 
sea-bottom  which  first  came  within  the  influence  of. 
the  surface-currents,  wei*e  very  much  worn  away 
or  denuded.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  an 
extensive  sheet  known  as  the  "Chalky  Boulder 
Clay,"  from  its  containing  so  many  small  rounded . 
pebbles  of  chalk,  as  well  as  large  boulders  of  other 
rocks. 

Among  farmers,  this  goes  by  the  name  of  "  Heavy 
lands,"  and  the  bed  is  usually  found  occupying  the 
highest  grounds,  having  been  denuded  by  marine 
currents  into  what  are  now  valleys.  A  good  deaii 
of  the  material  thus  worn  away  was  carried  by  the 
waves  to  form  beds  of  later  date,  which  sometimes 
go  by  the  name  of  "  Post-glacial,"  although  they 
were  really  deposited  during  the  Glacial  epoch.  Of 
course,  we  boulders  had  no  means  by  which  we 
could  be  transported,  and  so  we  were  exposed  to- 
current-action.  The  waves  rubbed  us  together, 
toning  down  our  sharp  angles,  and  very  frequently 
obliterating  the  scratches  and  groovings  which  we 
had  before  borne  as  evidence  of  our  ice-conveyance. 
In  this  way  a  huge  gravel  or  boulder  bed  was 
formed  on  the  highest  grounds,  the  soft  matrix 
having  been  washed  away. 

When  England  was  again  joined  to  the  Con- 
tinent, and  before  the  Straits  of  Dover  had  been, 
cut  out,  the  European  land  animals  migrated  hither. 
The  climate,  though  still  rigorous,  was  nothing  like 
so  cold  as  it  had  been  during  the  middle  of  the 
Glacial  period.  Among  the  animals  thus  roaming 
amid  semi-arctic  woods  and  wilds,  were  the 
"Mammoth"  (Elephas  primigenius)  and  the  Hairy 
Rhinoceros.  Both  these  animals  were  covered 
with  long  woolly  hair  to  protect  them  from  the 
severe  cold.  Ireland  was  then  joined  to  England. 
by  way  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  over  this  extensive 
prolongation  of  Europe  in  a  westerly  direction, 
another  animal,  the  "  Irish  Elk,"  roamed  in  great 
numbers.  The  Reindeer,  Glutton,  Lemming,  Musk- 
deer,  and  other  animals  affecting  high  latitudes, 
then  abounded  in  England,  their  bones  being  fre- 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


quently  found  in  the  later  deposits,  as  well  as  in 
the  cave  breccias.  An  almost  arctic  flora  covered 
the  plains,  and  crept  up  the  hill-sides  as  far  as  the 
then  perpetual  snow-line.  Glaciers  still  debouched 
through  the  mountain  defiles  into  the  plains,  and 
moraines,  or  heaps  of  angular  stones,  thrust  forward 
by  the  advancing  foot  of  the  glacier,  still  remain 
in  Scotland,  Cumberland,  and  Wales,  to  indicate 
how  far  these  glaciers  travelled.  Where  the  ice- 
sheet  descended  from  the  mountains,  of  course 
there  was  the  greatest  amount  of  pressure.  Here 
great  hollows  were  scooped  out  of  the  hard,  solid 
rocks,  and  these  hollows  are  now  filled  with  fresh 
water,  and  form  the  lakes  of  North  Wales,  Lan- 
cashire, and  Cumberland,  and,  on  the  Continent,  in 
Switzerland.  The  Swiss  glaciers,  by  the  way,  were 
then  much  more  extensive  than  they  now  are.  At 
present  their  growth  is  impeded  by  a  warm  wind, 
which  accumulates  over  the  Desert  of  Sahara,  in 
North  Africa.  But,  at  the  time  of  which  I  speak, 
the  Sahara  was  a  sea,  as  is  indicated  by  the  abun- 
dance of  ordinary  cockles  and  mussels  found  a  few 
feet  below  its  terrible  drifting  sands.  Then,  no 
warm  wind  could  form,  and  the  European  glaciers 
grew  unchecked.  Again,  the  temperate  mollusca, 
such  as  oysters,  cockles,  mussels,  &c,  had  migrated 
from  our  latitudes,  and  taken  up  their  abodes  in 
seas  which,  although  farther  south,  represented  iu 
glacial  times,  as  far  as  tbe  temperature  was  con- 
cerned, the  seas  of  Great  Britain. 

As  the  climate  became  warmer,  the  arctic  plants 
left  the  lowlands,  where  they  became  extinct.  Their 
places  were  taken  by  a  more  southerly  flora,  which 
had  set  out  from  Asia  Minor,  and  covered  the 
greater  part  of  Europe.  The  arctic  plants  occu- 
pying the  highest  grounds,  therefore,  were  the  only 
remains  of  this  once  widely-spread  arctic  flora, 
which  could  find  suitable  and  fitting  circumstances 
amid  which  they  could  live.  And  here  the  wan- 
dering botauist  now  finds  them — living  proofs  of 
the  truth  of  what  I  have  been  saying  respecting 
the  long  arctic  winter  of  the  northern  hemisphere. 
Subsequently,  Ireland  was  separated  from  the  Con- 
tinent, England  having  been  cut  off  some  time 
before.  When  the  climate  had  toned  down,  man 
appeared  on  the  scene.  His  weapons  are  found  in 
the  most' recent  of  deposits,  and  his  bones  beneath 
the  stalagmitic  floor  of  limestone  caves.  The 
woolly-haired  Elephant  and  Rhinoceros  disappeared 
for  ever;  the  Glutton,  Lemming,  Reindeer,  &c, 
like  the  arctic  plants,  migrated  with  the  decreasing 
cold  into  northern  regions.  Meantime,  the  bottom 
of  the  glacial  sea  had  become  dry  land.  The  old, 
hard,  and  barren  rocks  had  been  thickly  strewn 
with  rich  subsoils,  the  very  elements  necessary  for 
agricultural  purposes.  Nature  had  done,  by  means 
of  her  glacier  and  other  action,  exactly  what  the 
scientiGc  farmer    sometimes  docs  when   he  adds 


artificial  manure  to  improve  his  soils.  She  had 
ground  and  pounded  all  the  older  rocks  to  make  up 
a  new  compound  that  should  possess  all  their 
valuable  mineral  ingredients.  In  this  way  only 
could  mankind  have  been  blessed  with  the  necessary 
elements  for  the  purposes  of  husbandry.  Thus,  in 
comparison  with  other  periods,  that  when  man  was 
introduced  was  especially  favoured. 


URASTER    RUBENS. 

A  S  marine  aquaria  are  now  so  well  known  and 
^--*-  so  widely  distributed,  it  seems  a  pity  that 
people  with  such  means  at  their  disposal  should 
not  undertake  the  keeping  and  study  of  the  more 
delicate  animals  of  our  seas  and  shores ;  as,  by  such 
means,  many  disconnected  facts  and  observations  in 
natural  history  may  be  linked  together  in  a  manner 
to  be  understood.  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  ani- 
mals inland  is  no  doubt  often  a  bar  to  their  suc- 
cessful study,  as  they  must  be  in  a  healthy  condition 
when  placed  in  the  tank.  My  own  observations 
have  not  been  so  numerous  as  I  could  wish,  I  not 
having  been  able  to  obtain  many  objects  in  a  suffi- 
ciently healthy  state  to  live.  I  refer  more  particu- 
larly to  the  Echiuoderms.  This  great  class,  which 
is  entirely  marine,  contains  some  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  graceful  animals  that  are  known.  But  I  have 
now  to  describe  the  more  common  member  of  this 
class,  Uraster  rttbens. 

The  animal  of  which  1  now  speak  belongs  to  the 
sub-family  Urasterina,  distinguished  by  having  four 
rows  of  suckers  in  each  of  the  ray-avenues.  The 
body  of  this  Echinoderm,  which  is  a  slightly  elevated 
disk,  is  elongated  into  five  stout  arms  or  rays,  which 
are  rather  rounded,  and  are  really  extensions  of  the 
body,  of  which  they  form  part.  It. is  enclosed  in  a 
toughish  skin,  in  which  are  imbedded  calcareous 
plates  of  various  shapes,  rather  closely  congregated, 
so  as  to  form  a  strong  skeleton.  In  certain  situa- 
tions all  over  the  dorsal  surface,  these  plates  are 
raised  into  strong  spines,  which  give  the  star-fish 
that  prickly  feel  when  handled.  The  arrangement 
of  these  large  spines  does  not  seem  to  be  after  any 
particular  order :  three  sets  of  long  spines  border- 
ing the  avenues  especially  characterize  the  genus. 

The  avenues  on  the  under  side  of  the  rays  are 
filled  with  the  ambulacra.  These  are  fleshy  arms 
furnished  with  suckers  at  their  extremities,  by  which 
the  animal  can  attach  itself,  and  are  used  as  organs 
of  progression.  They  are  very  contractile,  and 
highly  sensitive,  as  by  a  slight  touch,  when  the 
animal  is  in  repose  and  the  arms  are  almost  motion- 
less, we  can  set  them  all  in  motion. 

But  let  us  examine  the  animal  more  closely  by 
means  of  the  microscope,  to  do  which  we  must 
select  one  that  will  go  conveniently  into  a  large 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


zoophyte-trough  filled  with  sea-water,  and  we  can 
thus  study  it  in  its  living  state,  which  is  highly  im- 
portant with  delicate  structures,  such  as  that  we 
have  in  hand.  The  ambulacra  are  separated  from 
each  other  by  peculiar  thin  curved  calcareous  plates, 
but  of  considerable  width,  which  are  placed  side  by 
side  all  down  the  under  surface  of  the  rays,  and 
from  the  bottom  of  the  avenues.  Between  these 
plates  the  fleshy  arms  protrude  themselves :  now, 
on  cutting  open  the  ray  we  see  that  in  the  interior 
side  of  these  plates  the  arms  swell  out  into  trans- 
parent bulbs  filled  with  sea-water.  It  is  by  the 
contraction  of  these  bodies,  forcing,  as  they  then 
do,  the  water  into  them,  that  the  ambulacra  are 
expanded,  and  on  the  retraction  of  the  suckers  the 
water  is  sent  back  again  into  the  bulbs. 

The  spaces  between  the  calcareous  network  are 
covered  with  a  transparent  skin,  which  can  be 
protruded  in  the  form  of  a  short  tentacle.  Within 
these  tentacles,  which  are  very  transparent,  violent 
vortices  are  produced  by  the  cilia  lining  the  interior, 
and  whirling  round  clouds  of  alimentary  particles. 
It  is  difficult  to  conjecture  what  may  be  the  object 
of  these  processes ;  but  from  their  protrusion  and 
retraction,  and  being  covered  and  lined  with  cilia, 
they  are  probably  connected  with  respiration.  They 
are  distributed  all  over  the  upper  side  of  the  star- 
fish, and  when  protruded  (which  they  can  be  to  the 
eighth  of  an  inch  in  a  full-sized  specimen)  give  to 
the  animal  a  peculiar  gauze-like  appearance. 

Interspersed  amongst  the  tentacular  bodies,  and 
generally  near  the  spines,  are  the  pedicellarisc,  pe- 
culiar pincer-like  structures,  which  are  constantly 
opening  and  shutting  during  the  life  of  the  animal, 
and  of  which  a  great  deal  has  been  written,  but 
without  any  great  results :  the  fact  of  their  not 
communicating  with  the  interior  of  the  body  of  the 
animal  has  made  their  object  in  the  economy  of  the 
star-fish  extremely  difficult  to  imagine.  They  have 
been  thought  by  some  to  be  parasites ;  but  there 
is  not  the  least  doubt  now,  of  their  belonging  to  and 
being  part  of  the  animal.  These  bodies  are  very 
numerous  in  large  specimens,  particularly  towards 
the  sides  of  the  rays,  and  are  often  absent  in  young 
ones.  In  this  state  Porbes  says  it  is  the  Asterias 
clathrata  of  Pennant.  Around  the  spines  princi- 
pally, but  sometimes  in  isolated  groups,  are  placed 
other  and  very  remarkable  structures.  The  investing 
skin  of  the  animal  rises  up  into  mounds,  which 
divide  at  the  top  into  short  tubular  processes,  each 
of  which  ends  in  a  curious  opening,  like  the  mouth 
of  a  fish.  The  jaws  are  formed  of  hard  calcareous 
matter,  transparent  like  glass,  and  are  broad  and 
short,  very  unlike  the  pedicellariae,  which  are  nar- 
row and  long.  These  mouths  are  constantly 
opening  a  little,  and  closing  again.  There  appears 
to  be  a  passage  from  them  down  into  the  interior 
of  the  body.  I  have  not  seen  these  curious 
structures  described  before,  although  to  me  they 


seem  quite,  if  not  more  important,  than  the 
pedicellariae,  and  are  much  more  numerous,  there 
being  generally  twenty  or  more  around  each  spine. 
They  are  very  plentiful  near  the  avenues,  where 
also  the  pedicellariae  are  most  abundant  Might 
not  the  use  of  the  latter  be  to  hold  substances  to 
attract  swarms  of  infusoria  which  might  then  be 
taken  in  with  the  water  by  the  "  fish-mouths,"  and 
serve  as  food  for  the  star-fish  in  the  absence  of  re- 
gular food  by  the  mouth  ?  Constant  observation 
of  the  living  animal  under  the  microscope  seems  to 
be  the  only  way  of  solving  this  difficult  question. 

At  the  top  of  each  ray,  and  surrounded  by  spines, 
is  a  red  spot,  consisting  of  a  number  of  ruby  cells 
in  a  group.  This  has  been  called  their  eye ;  but 
whether  it  is  endowed  with  the  sense  of  vision  is 
uncertain.  It  is  the  only  known  organ  of  sense  in 
the  star-fish,  and  seems  particularly  used  when  the 
animal  is  searching  for  food ;  it  then  always  keeps 
the  tips  of  the  rays  turned  up,  exposing  well  this 
red  spot. 

The  animal  is  moderately  lively,  and  will  often  be 
seen  walking  rather  faster  than  a  snail.  On  the 
sea-coast  it  seems  fond  of  clinging  to  the  under 
sides  of  ledges.  At  some  seasons  it  is  not  common, 
only  one  or  two  being  seen  thrown  up  by  the  tide; 
this  more  especially  in  winter.  I  have  seen  it  in 
warm  weather  in  great  abundance,  and  this  after 
calm  seas.  It  appears  very  sensitive  to  change  of 
temperature;  the  star-fish  in  my  tank  always 
seeking  the  deeper  parts  on  the  setting  in  of  cold 
weather ;  those  parts  being  then  of  course  warmer 
than  the  surface. 

This  species  is  very  voracious,  and  will  eat  almost 
any  animal  matter.  Its  manner  of  feeding  is  as 
follows  :  It  is  perhaps  walking  on  a  piece  of  rock, 
turning  up  the  ray-tips  and  exposing  the  red  "  eye  " 
spots,  as  I  before  remarked.  Should  there  be  a 
piece  of  fish  or  dead  worm  near,  it  is  soon  discovered 
and  drawn  by  means  of  the  suckers  towards  the 
mouth;  the  body  is  now  raised  up  to  admit  the 
substance,  and  the  rays  clasp  round  it.  The  body 
is  now  much  inflated  with  water,  and  the  stomach 
is  turned  out  like  a  transparent  bladder,  completely 
enveloping  the  food  ;  if  not  too  large,  it  is  perhaps 
drawn  quite  into  the  body,  there  to  undergo  di- 
gestion, and  is>ejected  in  a  day  or  so  in  a  finely- 
divided  granulous  condition. 

In  colour  this  species  is  very  variable,  passing 
from  pale  lemon  down  to  dark  brick-red  or  violet ; 
in  this  state  having  much  in  common  with  TJraster 
violacea ;  and  it  is  often  difficult  by  this  means  to 
define  the  two  species. 

Porbes  seems  to  question  the  suicidal  propensi- 
ties of  this  animal ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  of  its 
ability  to  throw  off  its  rays.  I  have  seen  an  animal 
break  off  all  its  rays  till  nothing  but  the  disk  was 
left.  This  is  certain  to  happen  if  the  star-fisb  is 
placed  in  an  ill -aerated  aquarium.     This  habit  I 


10 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


found  very  annoying  when  I  first  attempted  to  keep 
this  animal ;  but  if  it  can  be  kept  for  a  fortnight  or 
so  without  thus  mutilating  itself,  it  seldom  after 
that  shows  its  destructive  habits;  and  if  it  then 
dies,  it  generally  does  so  in  an  ordinary  manner. 

There  is  another  malady  to  which  this  star-fish 
seems  liable  in  confinement.  The  animal  may  ap- 
pear healthy  and  vigorous,  but  a  few  white  spots 
will  be  seen  on  the  rays :  these  spread ;  and  here  it 
will  be  observed  that  the  skin  is  quite  rotten, 
coming  away  in  large  flakes.  I  had  always  re- 
garded these  signs  as  fatal ;  but  I  am  happy  to  say 
that  my  friend  Mr.  0.  Meltzer  once  cured  a  fine 
specimen  of  Uraster  violacea  that  was  affected  in 
this  manner,  and  which  is  still  alive ;  the  scar  is, 
bowever,  still  visible. 

Whether  this  star-fish  has  any  stinging  propen- 
sities is  very  doubtful ;  but  I  have  noticed  that 
whenever  this  animal  has  approached  a  limpet, 
the  great  discomfort  of  the  latter  was  worthy  of 
remark. 

I  consider  from  my  own  experience  that  this  ani- 
mal is  difficult  to  keep  in  aquaria.  I  have  kept  one 
•over  a  year,  and  have  now  several  that  I  have  had 
-for  some  time ;  but  they  have  the  benefit  of  con- 
tinuous streams  and  daily  tides. 

Herbert  Ingall. 

Champion  Grove,  Champion  Hill. 


NEW  INTRODUCTIONS. 

I  AM  afraid  Mr.  Spicer,  by  his  article  in  the  last 
number  of  Science-Gossip,  will  by  this  time 
have  roused  the  active  wrath  of  at  least  some  few 
naturalists  whom  I  could  name.  And  yet  I  must 
range  myself  on  his  side, -and  with  him  ask  why  our 
Fauna  and  Flora  may  not  be  enriched,  where  pos- 
sible, with  the  treasures  of  other  climes.  There  is 
Qot  the  slightest  doubt  that  a  very  great  number  of 
-our  present  species  have  been  introduced  by  the 
hand  of  man,  more,  perhaps,  than  is  commonly  sup- 
posed. What  are  we  the  worse  for  it  ?  and  why  is 
the  naturalist  to  be  at  once  severely  taken  to  task 
when  he  purposes  scattering  the  seeds  of  some 
fresh  plant  or  the  eggs  of  some  new  insect  in  his 
locality  ?  I  never  could  understand  (but  that  is 
probably  owing  to  my  limited  powers,  or  else  im- 
perfect knowledge)  why  botanists  should  be  at  such 
immense  pains  to  insist  on  the  necessity  of  such 
phrases  as  "not  a  native,"  "a  doubtful  native,"  "na- 
turalized," &c.  If  a  plant  grows  and  flourishes  in  a 
locality,  why  may  it  not  be  regarded  as  an  inhabitant  ? 
If  an  insect  is  bred  from  eggs  purposely  scattered  by 
man,  and  the  locality  being  suitable  for  it,  it  in- 
creases and  multiplies,  why  must  it  still  be  regarded 
as  a  foreigner  ?  Man  himself — in  fact  every  animal 
— would  have  to  be  set  down  on  these  principles  as 
"naturalized,"  but   "not  a  real  native,"   of  any 


locality.  If  any  district  possesses  the  capabilities  of 
nourishing  and  preserving  any  species  of  plant  or 
animal,  then  evidently  the  occurrence  of  such  plant 
or  animal,  however  introduced,  cannot  be  regarded 
as  unnatural.  Nature  employs  certain  agents  to  do 
her  work  in  dispersion — geological  changes,  by 
which  paths  of  dry  land  may  be  opened  up  in  fresh 
places — all  the  marvellous  aud  beautiful  contrivances 
for  scattering  seeds — and  man  is  one  of  her  agents 
too,  albeit  a  conscious  one,  which  appears  to  be  the 
objection.  But  surely,  if  conscious,  then  a  more 
perfect  agent ;  he  cannot  oppose  Nature,  and  he 
can  carry  out  her  designs  only  by  obeying  the  laws 
which  the  Creator  has  impressed  upon  her;  and 
when  he  is  so  doing,  he  is  performing  his  duty  in 
the  same  way,  though  more  perfectly,  as  the  plume 
attached  to  the  tiny  seed,  or  as  the  breeze  con- 
veying invisible  germs  for  hundreds  of  miles  from 
their  birthplace. 

Of  course  it  would  be  of  intense  interest  to  know 
the  birthplace  and  date  of  arrival  of  every  species 
we  possess ;  already  we  can  record  a  great  many, 
and  it  will  be  now  easy  to  notice  fresh  ones.  Per- 
haps some  "honourable  gentleman  opposite"  may 
be  able  to  afford  us  better  reasons  for  his  view  of 
the  matter  than  I  have  here  recorded  for  mine,  and 
I  am  sure  we  shall  be  very  glad  to  hear  them,  even 
if  convinced  we  are  wrong.  At  present  the  rule 
appears  to  be  this :  if  you  know  the  date  of  arrival, 
or  strongly  suspect  the  date,  call  the  species  a 
"  doubtful  native,"  or  "  naturalized ; "  if  not,  it  may 
be  regarded  as  "  a  true  native." 

Henry  Ullyett. 


BIRDS!    BIRDS! 

A  WALK  through  the  wood  in  winter  has  its 
-*-*i  charms  ;  the  lover  of  nature  finds  more  scope 
for  the  eye ;  the  curtain  to  a  degree  is  gone ;  the 
trees  are  bare  ;  many  birds  now  may  be  seen  that 
keep  out  of  view  in  summer,  for,  although  a  number 
of  the  best  birds  migrate,  we  have  some  that  visit 
us  in  winter  that  are  somewhat  ornamental,  such 
as  the  redwing,  fieldfare,  snipe,  widgeon,  and 
several  others  of  the  Bunting  tribe,  cir I  bunting,  snow 
bunting,  &c.  &c. ;  besides  which  we  have  a  number 
of  beautiful  birds  that  stay  with  us  all  the  year 
round ;  the  smallest  British  bird  we  have,  the 
golden-crested  wren,  braves  the  winter  ;  the  robin, 
with  his  melodious  song ;  the  family  of  Wagtails ; 
hedge-sparrows,  stone-chats,  whin-chats,  &c.  &c. 

The  leaves  gone,  we  get  a  chance  of  seeing  the 
mischievous  magpie  and  the  pretty  jay,  the  cun- 
ning hawfinch  that  is  known  to  visit  orchards,  but 
makes  off  at  the  sight  of  man,  seldom  leaving  cover 
until  evening  or  next  morning,  although  this  bird  is 
known  to  haunt  the  vicinity  of  Hampstead  aud 


H  A  R  D  VV  I C  K  E'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


11 


Epping  forest.  1  lately  saw  a  new  and  popular 
natural  history  that  did  not  mention  this  bird. 

I  one  time  had  a  tame  magpie  that  was  very 
sagacious  ;  he  would  amuse  himself  by  playing  with 
a  little  dog,  running  and  tumbling  round  and  rouud 
a  few  old  trees,  only  just  keeping  in  front  of  the 
dog's  nose,  seemingly  in  a  half-exhausted  state;  but 
-when  the  dog  was  tired  and  would  run  no  longer, 
maggy  would  look  as  sprightly  as  could  be;  he 
would  throw  up  his  tail,  walk  back  and  try  to  tempt 
the  dog  to  another  run.  This  took  place  every 
morning  upon  the  appearance  of  the  dog,  who,  after 
some  time,  from  force  of  habit,  enjoyed  the  fun  as 
much  as  the  bird.  Maggy  also  had  his  dislikes,  one 
of  which  was  a  red-haired  child  :  he  would  alight  on 
such  a  one  and  pick  away  most  unmercifully.  His 
mischief  was  mostly  a  source  of  amusement  to  me  ; 
but  some  one  thought  otherwise,  for,  while  he  was 
stealing  grapes— which,  by-the-by,  was  a  favourite 
pastime  with  him — a  boy  killed  him.  Although 
a  great  thief,  I  honoured  him  with  a  glass  case.    » 

A  tame  magpie,  not  caged,  will  get  a  plumage 
equal  to  a  wild  one  ;  but  not  so  with  the  jay  ;  there 
deems  a  difficulty  in  the  moulting,  the  feathers  not 
coming  to  perfection ;  consequently  the  health  of  the 
bird  suffers  so  much  that,  coupled  with  shyness,  we 
lose  the  real  character  of  the  jay  when  tame.  The 
magpie  and  jay  are  both  mocking-birds,  the  former 
the  better  of  the  two.  In  a  garden  where  either  of 
the  above-mentioned  birds  is  kept  all  small  birds 
are  absent. 

A  crested  wren  mostly  remains  in  the  woods  and 
hedges,  however  cold  the  winter  may  be ;  yet,  kept 
in  a  cage,  you  can  scarcely  keep  it  warm  enough  ; 
it  must  have  a  large  cage  lined  with  baize,  the  perch 
also  covered  with  the  same. 

The  hawfinch,  avoiding  man  as  he  does  when  in  a 
wild  state,  is  quite  familiar  in  an  aviary ;  indeed, 
after  a  little  hard  weather  many  birds  that,  as  a  rule, 
would  pine  away,  may  be  kept  a  whole  season  if 
room  is  given  them  to  fly  about. 

The  bullfinch  maybe  kept  alive  if  taken  about  this 
time ;  at  other  times  it  is  difficult  to  do  so  ;  but  it  is 
advisable  to  keep  a  pair  for  a  few  weeks,  after  which 
the  hen  may  be  safely  removed ;  they  should  be  fed 
upon  a  mixture  of  hemp  and  canary  seed. 

The  whole  family  of  wagtails  will  live  in  cap- 
tivity. Although  insectivorous,  they  will  do  very 
well  if  fed  upon  German  paste,  giving  them  oc- 
casionally a  little  live  food.  Wagtails  do  not  hop, 
but,  like  most  of  the  larger  birds,  walk. 

Just  now  we  have  very  large  flocks  of  siskins, 
which  are  known  to  fly  periodically,  that  is,  I 
believe,  every  seven  years.  The  siskin,  or  abcrdu- 
vine,  is  an  excellent  bird  to'match  with  the  canary ; 
they  will  assist  to  build  the  nest,  and  help  to  feed 
the  young.  So  fascinating  is  this  bird, that  frequently 
the  canary  will  leave  one  of  their  own  species  and 


pair  with  the  stranger.  Like  the  goldfinch,  they  are 
very  fond  of  hemp-seed. 

In  November  I  procured  a  wren,  and  it  seemed 
to  do  very  well  in  the  aviary,  feeding  very  readily 
upon  small  meal-worms  and  German  paste  ;  it  was 
quite  amusing  and  instructive  to  watch  its  move- 
ments ;  it  would  scrub  and  roll  in  the  gravel  much 
after  the  manner  of  the  common  hen.  1  am  sorry 
to  say  it  made  its  escape,  and  so  for  a  time  put  an 
end  to  the  study  of  the  habits  of  the  wren. 

Charles  J.  W.  Rudd. 


SOUTH   AFRICAN  DIAMONDS. 
By  Prof.  James  Tennant. 

THE  history  of  the  discovery  of  diamonds  at  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  this  :  —  In  March, 
1S67,  Dr.  Atherstone,  of  Graham's  Town,  received 
by  post  in  an  unsealed,  unregistered  letter,  a  rough 
diamond,  which  had  been  picked  up  on  a  farm  in 
the  Hope-town  district,  and  forwarded  by  Mr.  J. 
O'Reilly  to  Mr.  Lorenzo  Boyes,  Clerk  of  the  Peace 
for  the  district  of  Colesburg,  who  sent  it  to  Dr. 
Atherstone,  in  order  that  he  might  give  his  opin- 
ion as  to  the  probability  of  its  being  of  any  value. 
He  had  not  seen  a  rough  diamond  before,  but,  after 
taking  the  specific  gravity,  testing  the  hardness,  and 
examining  it  by  polarized  light,  he  decided  that  it 
was  a  genuine  diamond  of  considerable  value;  and, 
perceiving  the  great  importance  of  such  a  discovery 
to  the  colony,  he  at  once  wrote  to  the  Colonial 
Secretary,  suggesting  that  it  should  be  sent  to  the 
Paris  exhibition,  and  afterwards  sold  for  the  benefit 
of  the  finder.  This  fortunate  person  was  a  Dutch 
farmer,  named  Schalk  van  Niekerk,  who,  seeing  the 
children  of  a  neighbouring  boor  playing  with  some 
bright  stones,  was  struck  by  the  appearance  of  one 
which  he  offered  to  buy  of  the  mother.  She  laughed 
at  the  idea  of  selling  the  gem,  and  gave  it  to  him 
at  once.  He  showed  it  to  Mr.  O'Reilly,  who  was 
returning  from  a  distant  hunting  expedition,  and 
so  it  finally  reached  Dr.  Atherstone.  At  the  close  of 
the  Paris  Exhibition,  the  stone  was  purchased  by 
Sir  Philip  Wodehouse,  then  governor  of  the  colony, 
for  £500.  Comparing  the  South  African  with  other 
diamond-fields,  it  had  hitherto  been  unusual  to 
receive  more  than  one  large  diamond — say  of  40 
carats — in  the  course  of  a  single  year,  but  the  new 
fields  had  yielded  no  less  than  five  stones  exceeding 
this  weight  within  that  time.  There  was  one  of 
56  carats,  and  another  weighing  83  carats,  which 
arrived  last  year,  and  proved  to  be  an  exceedingly 
beautiful  stone.  It  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
Messrs.  Hunt  and  Roskell,  who  have  kindly  pro- 
mised to  allow  any  one  who  wished  to  see  it.  I  anti- 
cipate that  we  shall  have  diamonds  from  this  region 
exceeding  the  Koh-i-ncor  in  size,  and  equalling  it 
in  beauty  when  cut  and  polished. 


12 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


The  diamond-bearing  district  of  South  Africa  is, 
as  far  as  yet  known,  confined  to  the  Vaal  Valley,  some 
of  its  tributaries,  and  a  part  of  the  Orange  lliver, 
below  its  junction  with  the  Vaal.  For  the  most 
part,  the  district  of  Colesberg,  Albania,  and  Orange 
lliver  Free  State  (which  include  most  of  the  dia- 
mond-diggings) have  the  Karoo  strata,  or  great 
Dicynodon  formation,  that  underlies  so  large  a  part 
of  the  Cape  Colony,  for  its  basement,  traversed  in 
every  direction  by  dykes  of  greenstone  and  other 
volcanic  rocks.  Along  the  Vaal  River,  however, 
the  Karoo  beds,  if  they  ever  extended  quite  so  far, 
have  been  denuded  off,  leaving  some  schistose  and 
shaly  beds,  traversed  by  basalt  and  other  volcanic 
rocks ;  and  these  may  be  either  remnants  of  the 
Karoo  beds,  or  some  of  the  palaeozoic  rocks  beneath. 
Excepting  occasional  exposures,  all  these  are  covered 


Fig.  11.  Diamond  "Star  of  South  Africa,"  face  and 
back  as  cut. 


with  superficial  deposits  of  tufa,  pebbles,  and  sand . 
The  pebbles  consist  of  rock    crystal  of   various 
colours,  agate,  jaspers  (black,  red,  and  ribboned), 
quartzite,    sandstone,     iron-ore,    basalt,    granite, 
garnet,   spinel,  peridot,  blue  corundum,  and  dia- 
monds.    Where  the  quartz  is  angular  instead  of 
rounded,  diamonds  are  said  to  be  wanting.    The 
superficial  sand  and  soil,  generally  ferruginous,  and 
even  the  tufa,  have  also  been  found  to  contain  dia- 
monds here  and  there.  The  diamond-bearing  pebble- 
bed  is  formed,  not  only  on  the  flats  along  the  river, 
but  also  on  the  tops  and  sides  of  the  hills  ("  kop- 
jes "),  sometimes  one  hundred  feet  and  more  in 
height,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  river.    Most  of 
the  pebbles  have  been  probably  derived  from  the 
Quathlamba    Mountains    or    Drackenberg    range, 
which    has    certainly  in    its  constitution  all  the 
materials  for  the  common  pebbles,  and  probably  the 
rarer  minerals  also.    The  strata  that  have  before 
now  occupied  the  place  of  the  Vaal  Valley  may  have 
yielded  some  of  the  material,  slowly  let  down  from 
jevel  to  level,  and  pushed  gradually  forward,  as  the 
strata  were   worn   away  by  water  through   great 
periods  of  time ;    certainly  the  presence    of  the 
pebbly  accumulations  on  the  kopjes  indicates  the 
existence  of  former  levels  of  water-worn  deposits, 
portions  only  of  which  now  remain  after  the  erosive 
action   of  the  rivers.     These  kopjes   seem  to    be 
harder  masses  of  protruding  basalt  than  the  rest, 


and  are  said  to  have  rich  stores  of  diamonds  re- 
maining in  the  old  alluvium  coating  their  tops  and 
sides,  but  often  hidden  by  sand  drifted  from 
flats.  The  association  of  agates  points  of  course  to 
volcanic  rock,  even  if  no  basalt  or  greenstone  had 
been  found ;  and  the  abundant  evidence  of  igneous 
action,  both  in  the  Vaal  Valley  and  in  the  water- 
shed whence  the  river  comes,  may  probably  have 
had  to  do  with  the  origin  of  the  diamond,  in 
changing  coal  or  some  other  carbonaceous  com- 
pound into  pure  and  simple  crystals  of  carbon. 

The  many  papers  in  the  Colonial  and  other  pe- 
riodicals, by  Atherstone,  Rubidge,  Gilfillan,  Higson, 
Shaw,  Muskett,  Grey,  and  others,  have  been  the 
chief  sources  of  this  information  concerning  the 
diamond  fields  collated  for  me  by  my  friend  Profes- 
sor Rupert  Jones. 

As  in  South  Africa,  so  in  Brazil  and  India,  dia- 
monds have  been  formed  in  superficial  pebble-beds, 
whether  loose  or  conglomerated,  containing  quartz 
and  other  hard  rocks,  derived  probably  from  moun- 
tains many  miles  away,  of  palaeozoic  and  highly 
altered  rocks.  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  make  an 
exact  comparison  of  the  pebbly  alluviums,  so  rich 
with  diamonds,  in  these  three  countries.  So  also  of 
South  Australia  the  same  may  be  said  ;  and  doubt- 
less diamonds  will  be  found  under  similar  conditions 
in  other  parts  of  the  world. — Lecture  at  Society  of 
Arts. 


DARKLING    SPIDERS. 

P\ID  it  ever  occur  to  any  naturalist  that  it  is  a 
-^  rather  singular  circumstance  that  spiders 
should  spin  their  webs  in  closets  or  places  which  are 
entirely  dark  ?  For  what  purpose  is  the  silken  snare 
spread  by  these  crustaceans  ?  We  naturally  answer, 
that  its  primary  object  must  be  to  entrap  winged 
insects,  yet  totally  dark  places  yield  few  of  these. 
Observe  that  I  am  speaking  of  spots  where  light  is 
not  intermittent,  but  from  which  it  is  shut  out  for 
months  together.  I  have  recently  been  making 
some  investigations  relative  to  the  habits  of  spiders 
resident  in  a  closet  which  is  not  opened  for  many 
weeks  at  a  time,  situate  on  the  basement  of  a  house. 
Within  this  a  spider  might  well  despair  of  getting  a 
good  living,  unless  it  had  either  capacities  with 
which  spiders  do  not  appear  to  be  gifted,  or  pos- 
sessed the  art  of  subsisting  upon  other  aliment  than 
that  which  we  assume,  with  good  reason,  is  that 
which  has  been  assigned  them  by  Nature. 

What  insect  is  likely  to  fly  about  in  a  dark  closet  ? 
The  chances  of  any  entering  at  those  rare  intervals 
when  the  door  was  open  would  afford  a  meagre 
livelihood  to  any  spider,  even  if  these  visitants,  once 
shut  in,  were  likely  to  blunder  about  until  they  fell 
into  a  snare ;  but  here  were  many  spiders,  and  from 
their  appearance  they  showed  evidently  that  they 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


13 


were  not  in  a  state  of  starvation.    Could  they  re- 
plenish their  larders  by  the  capture  of  any  flying 
insects    actually  bred  within    their    domain,   and 
which,  being  prisoners  in  the  dark,  and  within  a 
limited  space,   would    be    likely    to    be    caught? 
Scarcely.    The  closet  was  almost  empty— a  few  old' 
bottles  and  jars,  some  pieces  of  wood  of  a  variety  of 
sizes,  and  a  debris  of  sawdust  and  other  dust,  the 
accumulation  of  years,  occupied  the  floor.    This  was 
not    likely    to    produce     anything    winged,   save, 
perhaps,  a  few  Tine^:,  the  larvae  of  which  might 
feed  on  the  wood,  though  the  wings  of  no  insect  of 
this  sort  appeared  in  the  webs.  Other  living  creatures 
were  not  to  be  looked  for,  saving  any  of  the  small 
wood-boring  beetles  and  wood-lice,  and  these  would 
not  be  very  likely  to  enter  a  spider's  web,  nor  to 
remain  long  in  it  if  they  did.    The  webs,  I  per- 
eived,  were  regularly  arranged  in  the  angles  on 
each  side  of  the  door,  which  occupied  almost  the 
entire  width  of  the  closet.     Scarcely  any  webs  were 
situated  in  any  other  part  of  the  closet,  and  this 
seemed    to   suggest    either    that  the    spiders  had 
stationed  themselves  there  with  the  expectation  of 
catching  any  visitants  at  their  first  entry,  or  else 
that  they  themselves  were  accustomed  to  make  ex- 
cursions in  search  of  food  elsewhere,  retiring  to 
these  webs,  which  might  be  called  "their  homes," 
at  such  times  as  they  chose.  This  idea  was  favoured 
by  three  circumstances  ;  first,  that  a  portion  of  the 
webs  was  occasionally  unoccupied ;  secondly,  that 
a  sufficient  gap  was  left,  when  the  door  was  shut, 
to  allow  the  issue  therefrom  of  a  house  spider  of 
average  size;    and  thirdly,  it  is,  I  believe,  a  fact 
that  house  spiders  are  not  unfrequently  to  be  found 
wandering  about,   especially  at  night.    With  the 
skill  for  which  these  creatures  are  so  noteworthy, 
the  habitants  on  each  side  of  the  door  had  adapted 
their  webs  to  the  space  at  their  disposal.    On  one 
side,  where  there  was  a  width  of  several  inches, 
the  webs  were  largish  and  irregular ;  on  the  other, 
the  quarters  being  narrow,   they  were  small  and 
almost    triangular.     Here    also    they  were    more 
numerous,  and  their  close  proximity  to  each  other, 
and   the  few  spiders  to  be   seen  on   this  side,  as 
compared  with  the  other,  might  indicate  that  two 
or  three  of  these  were    constructed  by  the  same 
spider. 

The  long  seclusion  enjoyed  by  these  indi- 
viduals now  experienced  an  interruption.  I 
paid  several  visits  at  short  intervals  to  observe 
somewhat  of  their  economy.  I  found  that  several 
of  those  near  the  opening  of  the  door  (where  the 
narrow  space  was)  extended  a  portion  of  web 
across  the  door,  so  as  in  this  way,  to  give  them- 
selves a  chance  of  catchiug  any  insect  which  might 
crawl  through.  These  being  severed,  were  speedily 
renewed,  even  in  the  space  of  a  few  hours.  My 
examinations  were  repeated,  with  the  view  chiefly 
of  ascertaining  what  captures  were  actually  made 


by  the  spiders  in  this  situation,  though  at  this 
season  (November)  it  was  doubtful  whether  they 
would  secure  much  prey,  and  their  summer  victims 
had  evidently  been  entirely  demolished.  The  deposit 
of  dust  upon  most  of  the  webs  was  considerable, 
proving  their  antiquity— I  assume  that  the  life  of  a 
spider  may  be  prolonged  through  several  years — 
and  also  making  it  evident  that  any  crawling 
creature  would  have  very  little  difficulty  in  making 
its  escape  from  them,  a  tolerably  good  foothold 
being  thus  afforded.  Scarcely  a  web  also  was  with- 
out a  rejected  skin  of  the  tenant,  and  some  con- 
tained two  or  three.  Specimens  of  the  domestic  fly 
are  not  very  easily  picked  up  in  November ;  but, 
finding  a  plump  one  in  lively  condition,  I  placed  it 
in  a  web.  The  occupant  looked  at  it  with  the  sort 
of  bewildered  astonishment  that  a  person  manifests 
when  he  is  suddenly  informed  that  a  thumping 
legacy  has  been  left  him  by  a  stranger,  and,  after 
some  consideration,  walked  up  leisurely  to  it,  and 
secured  it.  The  appearance  of  most  of  the  spiders 
did  not  indicate  at  all  that  they  were  in  a  starving 
condition,  though  how  they  exist  through  the  winter 
is  doubtful,  I  conjecture  that  within  doors  they 
rarely  become  torpid,  as  appears  to  be  the  case  with 
most  of  our  out-door  species,  both  "hunters"  and 
"weavers."  J.  R.  S.  Clifford. 


MY  CRASS. 

DO  write,  in  Science-Gossip,  about  my  Crass. 
It  was  precious  '  cheeky '  of  you  to  say,  when 
you  wrote  in  Land  and  Water  about  the  Beaumaris 
oyster-beds,  that  I  wanted  to  pocket  some  of  the' 
oysters,  but  you  may  write  about  my  Crass, 
Mamma." 

The  permission,  offered  in  such  a  polite  manner, 
I  am  inclined  to  avail  myself  of,  as  I  like  to  see 
little  boys  take  an  interest  in  natural  history ;  but 
the  kind  Editor  of  Science-Gossip  may  not  con- 
sider your  Crass  such  wonderful  members  of  scien- 
tific society  as  you  do,  and  refuse  to  give  them  a 
place  in  his  magazine. 

The  '"'  My  Crass  "  alluded  to  are  two  enormous 
specimens  of  the  Bemodes  crassicornis,  or  thick- 
horned  sea  anemone,  found  on  the  shore  near  here. 
One  was  brought  me  by  a  fisher  lad  ;  the  other  was 
found  by  my  boy  and  a  young  friend  of  his,  close  to 
the  oyster-beds  at  the  point,  attached  to  a  large  piece 
of  stone.  The  boys,  very  wisely,  did  not  attempt  to 
remove  it  from  its  moorings,  but  carried  off  between 
them  the  miniature  rock  and  all.  It  now  stands  in 
my  sitting-room,  in  the  centre  of  a  large  brown  pan 
full  of  sea-water,  which  is  constantly  changed ;  and 
it  affords  no  little  amusement  to  its  owner,  I  can 
tell  you,  to  watch  its  various  transformations. 

I  was  called  off  from  my  work,  yesterday  morning, 
to  "  see  the  big  crab  "  that  had  suddenly  put  in  an 


14 


HARD  WICK E*S    SCIENCE. GOSSIP. 


appearance.  The  Crass  had  evidently  cliued,  just 
before  his  capture,  on  a  crab  quite  as  large  in  cir- 
cumference as  half  a  crown ;  for,  at  the  moment  I 
appeared,  he  was  disgorging  the  empty  shell,  and  he 
had  not  been  treated  to  Crustacea  by  us.  Minced 
beef,  given  "rare,"  as  they  say  iu  New  York,  and  an 
oyster — out  of  the  shell,  of  course — are  the  articles 
of  diet  we  have  given  his  crass-ship.  I  fear  he  will 
die  of  repletion,  for  my  boy  has  an  idea  that  he 
requires  constant  feeding.  Fortunately,  the  creature 
has  a  first-rate  digestion. 

The  other  Crass  inhabits  a  smaller  mansion,  and 
is  a  trifle  less  voracious.  I  do  not  like  to  put  either  of 
them  in  a  new  aquarium  which  I  have  just  purchased 
of  Mr.  Ed  wards,  of  Menai  Bridge,  the  gentleman  who 
supplied  Mr.  Alford  Lloyd  with  all  those— or  at  any 
rate  a  great  many  of  them — nice  slate  tanks  he  used 
to  have  at  his  establishment  in  Town,  a  few  years 
ago ;  for  Crass  are  rather  uncertain  zoophytes,  and, 
if  they  die,  will  poison  a  whole  aquarium.  Besides 
this,  they  are  almost  as  dangerous  when  living : 
they  help  themselves  to  any  neighbour  that  comes 
within  reach  of  their  long  arms  {tentacula). 

I  have  a  great  aversion  to  feed  them  with  living 
animals.  I  do  not  like  to  see  one  creature  prey 
upon  another,  although  I  know  it  is  in  accordance 
with  the  universal  law  of  Nature ;  so  I  will  not  let 
my  boy  give  his  pets  small  crabs  and  shrimps.  This 
will  probably  be  called  "very  silly,"  and  I  shall 
perhaps  be  asked  if  I  never  eat  crabs  and  shrimps 
myself?  Yes,  I  do;  but  then  they  are  boiled,  and  I  can 
but  hope  the  process  is  less  painful  than  being  buried 
alive  in  the  interior  of  a  Crass ;  besides,  I  do  not 
superintend  the  boiling,  aud  1  should  be  expected 
to  witness  the  entombment,  or  have  to  listen  to 
such  remarks  as  the  following  : — "  There,  now  his 
claws  are  gone,"  or,  "  Half  of  him  is  out  of  sight : 
how  he  does  kick  !  " 

Crass  are  more  sensitive  than  the  other  kinds  of 
sea  anemones,  and  therefore,  when  the  stone  on 
which  they  have  fixed  themselves  is  too  large  to 
carry  away,  especial  care  must  be  taken  in  detaching 
them,  as  an  injury  to  the  base  is  fatal. 

Has  it  been  really  found  out  how  long  these  living 
flowers  can.live  ?  I  once  read  an  account  of  a  Crass 
that  had  existed  for  thirty-five  years.  If,  as  it  is 
said,  much  locomotion  shortens  life,  Crasses  ought 
to  be  perfectly  patriarchal.  They  travel  by  a  very 
slow  train :  only  run  at  the  rate  of  four  inches  in 
eight  hours.  They  move  a  portion  of  their  base, 
and  then  drag  the  other  part  quietly  after  it. 
Were  it  not  for  the  strong  expanding  and  also 
prehensile  power  of  their  tentacles,  they  would  run 
great  risk  of  fasting,  since  they  cannot  change 
their  hunting-ground  often  or  rapidly.  "  My  Crass  " 
took  a  pretty  tight  grasp  of  the  paper-knife  I  touched 
him  with  to-day.  I  could  feel  it,  just  as  one  does 
the  force  of  a  loadstone  when  it  attracts  an  object 
held  in  the  hand. 


"  My  Crasses"  have  names.  We  have  called  them 
Miss  S.  and  Mrs.  M.  W. ;  for,  although  I  write  of 
them  as  if  they  belonged  to  the  masculine  gender, 
they  are  named  after  two  members  of  the  feminine, 
whom  we  fancy  they  resemble.  Strictly  speaking,  I 
imagine  they  are  neither,  as  their  young  are  pro- 
duced like  flower-buds;  only,  flower-buds,  when 
expanded,  wither  and  fall  off  to  die :  these  sea 
flower-buds,  when  their  form  is  perfected,  fall  off, 
or  out,  to  live,  and  grow,  on  their  own  base.  Has  it 
ever  struck  you  how  some  animals  resemble  human 
beings?  ( [  ought  to  have  written  human  beings  first). 
One  of  these  Crasses,  when  in  a  state  of  sulk,  sticks 
out  two  singular  earlike  appendages,  forcibly  calling 
to  mind  the  way  in  which  Miss  S.  used  to  wear  her 
hair,  drawn  up  iu  two  horns,  one  on  each  side  of  her 
head.  The  other  Crass  has  a  large,  wide  expause 
of  face,  with  wouderfully  long,  light-hued  tentacles  ; 
and  each  time  I  look  at  the  animal  since  my  naughty 
"  Puck "  gave  it  "a  local  habitation  and  a  name,"  I 
fancy  I  see  Mrs.  M.  AY.,  her  light  locks  streaming 
in  the  wind,  as  she,  with  crasslike  celerity  of  motion, 
made  her  way  up  Cintra  Hill. 

The  colours  of  some  the  sea  anemones  are  very 
brilliant  when  seen  in  strong  sunlight,  and  their 
resemblance  to  flowers,  such  as  asters,  daisies,  aud 
marigolds,  perfectly  startling.  They  may  well  be 
called  "  the  sensitive  plants  of  the  sea." 

I  am  busy  making  a  collection  of  different  polypes, 
or  zoophytes,  iu  readiness  for  the  time  when  my 
aquarium  will  be  fit  to  receive  them.  There  are  a 
great  many  specimens  ou  this  coast,  and  I  trust  to 
find  others  at  Llandudno  during  the  holidays,  when 
I  trust  I  shall  have  something  of  greater  interest  to 
gossip  about  than  "My  Crass." 

I  am  told  that  the  tentacles  are  charged  with  a 
poisonous  fluid,  which  kills  the  prey  directly  it  is 
seized.  Judging  from  the  stinging,  strange  sensa- 
tion in  my  fingers  after  touching  these  said  "feelers," 
I  half  imagine  them  charged  with  electricity. 

Beaumaris.  Helen  E.  Watney. 

P.S.— Since  writing  the  above,  one  of  "  My  Crass" 
has  devoured  a  good-sized  purple-tipped  sea-urchin, 
which  was  put  by  mistake  into  his  house.  I  hope 
the  species  will  disagree  with  him. 


SECTIONS  OE  BONE,  TEETH,  &c. 

DOUBTLESS  many  of  the  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip  have  tried,  with  more  or  less  success 
or  failure,  the  methods  described  in  the  manuals  for 
making  sections  of  bone,  &c. ;  and  many  have 
either  been  deterred  from  studying  such  structures 
through  the  time  involved  in  making  even  respect- 
able slides,  or  felt,  where  they  had  succeeded,  that 
their  productions  would  not  compare  with  the 
admirable  sections  of  our  professional  mounters. 
Again,  in  order  that  the  lacuna  and  car.aliculi 


HARDWJCKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


15 


might  be  clearly  seen,  bone  sections  had  to  be 
mounted  dry— a  fertile  source  of  after-annoyance, 
as  many  have  found  in  a  plentiful  crop  of  fungus- 
growth,  which  either  disintegrated  the  section 
or  spoilt  the  slide.  Many  slides  of  bone,  teeth, 
scales,  &c,  prepared  in  the  dry  way  by  recognized 
mounters,  in  my  cabinet  are  so  affected.  A  similar 
annoyance  led  Dr.  Ormerod,  of  Brighton,  to  try  a 
modification  of  a  method  of  mounting  described  by 
Dr.  Carpenter,  together  with  a  novel  method  of 
grinding  the  section. 

About  three  months  since  Dr.  Ormerod  kindly 
showed  me  his  process,  and  gave  me  permission  to 
describe  and  illustrate  it  at  a  microscopical  meeting 
of  the  Brighton  and  Sussex  Natural  History 
Society.  Several  who  saw  the  process  have  since 
tried,  and  found  it  a  perfect  success.  Its  chief 
recommendations  are  simplicity,  rapidity,  per- 
manence, and  good  results.  It  succeeds  not  only 
with  bone,  teeth,  ivory,  and  similar  structures,  but 
also  with  the  hard  shells  of  some  fruits,  and  the 
stones  of  nuts,  plums,  &c. 

The  materials  required  are  pieces  of  ground  glass 
(coarse  better  than  fine)  about  G  inches  square, 
pumice-stone  with  a  flat  surface,  a  coarse  stone  or 
grindstone,  and  a  fine  saw.  Eirst  cut  as  thin  a 
slice  as  possible  with  a  fine  saw  (I  use  a  common 
fret  saw),  then  roughly  rub  down  on  the  coarse 
stone  or  grindstone ;  now,  using  the  pumice-stone 
as  a  pad,  rub  down  as  thin  as  required,  with  water 
on  the  ground  glass,  employing  a  rotatory  motion 
(the  sections  need  not  be  ground  so  thin  as  for  dry 
mounting) ;  well  wash  with  water,  and  the  section 
is  now  ready  for  mounting. 

On  a  glass  slide  boil  some  Canada  balsam  (old  is 
better  than  new)  ;  do  the  same  on  a  glass  cover. 
When  both  are  nearly  cold,  remove  with  blotting- 
paper  the  superfluous  moisture  from  the  section ; 
place  it  on  the  glass  slide,  on  the  nearly  cool 
balsam ;  lay  on  the  glass  cover,  warm  over  the 
lamp,  and  press  down  the  cover.  As  soon  as  cold, 
run  a  hot  knife  round  the  cover,  and  clean  off  the 
superfluous  balsam  with  the  knife  under  icater—a. 
method  which,  to  those  who  have  not  tried  it,  will 
be  a  pleasant  surprise.  The  slide  may  now  be 
labelled,  and  placed  in  the  cabinet. 

With  practice,  from  the  time  of  cutting  the  slice 
till  the  slide  is  ready  for  the  cabinet,  about  half  an 
hour  will  have  elapsed.  I  have  completed  some  in 
twenty  minutes;  ivory  and  teeth  being  tougher, 
will  take  a  little  more  time  than  ordinary  bone 
sections.  Compare  this  with  the  time  and  trouble 
under  the  ordinary  methods,  and  when  it  is  added 
the  results  are  equally  satisfactory,  and  the  per- 
manence of  the  specimen  is  secured  by  the  mount- 
ing in  balsam,  microscopists  will  recognize  its 
advantages ;  the  moist  surface  prevents  the  thick 
balsam  running  in  and  filling  up  the  lacuna  and 
canaliculi.    In  practice  I  cut  several  sections ;  as 


time  and  opportunity  allow,  I  rub  down  and  finish 
ou  the  ground  glass,  and  leave  them  in  water  until 
I  can  find  time  to  mount,  and  then  complete  the 
process.  The  other  evening  I  mounted  sixteen 
slides  in  an  hour  and  a  half,  of  bone,  teeth,  and 
ivory,  which  had  been  rubbed  down  at  odd  moments 
during  the  week.  In  the  case  of  ivory,  especially 
hippopotamus,  and  teeth,  a  file  reduces  the  thick- 
ness quicker  than  the  coarse  stone. 

As  mentioned  before,  the  saving  of  time  to  the 
histologist  is  a  very  great  point,  few  having  the 
leisure  to  afford  hours  over  the  grinding,  &c,  in- 
separable from  the  other  methods. 

Brighton,  December,  1S70.         T.  W.  Wonfok. 

ARTIFICIAL    SWARMING  OF  BEES. 

A  LTHOUGII  bees  are  mostly  allowed  to  swarm 
-^"*-  of  their  own  accord,  artificial  swarming  is 
very  profitable.  What  is  more  common  than  to  see 
thousands  of  bees  clustering  idly  for  a  week  or  two 
together  about  the  outside  of  a  stock  hive,  in  the 
very  best  honey-gathering  season?  It  is  certainly  a 
profit  if  we  can  set  those  idlers  to  work  in  a  new 
hive ;  besides,  by  drawing  them  earlier  than  they 
would  swarm  if  left  to  natural  instinct,  you  have 
earlier  swarms,  save  a  deal  of  trouble  in  watching 
them  swarming,  and  do  not  run  any  risk  of  hives 
flying  away,  as  a  great  many  do  that  come  off  by 
their  own  accord.  I  am  convinced  that,  if  this 
method  was  more  generally  adopted,  more  work- 
iug-men  would  become  bee-masters.  The  natural 
swarming-time  of  the  day  being  when  they  are 
away  at  their  work,  they  consider  they  run  a  great 
risk  of  losing  their  swarms.  I  will  now  give  a  few 
simple  directions  for  Artificial  Swarming,  whereby 
the  most  timid  among  bees  may  draw  a  swarm  in  a 
few  minutes,  and  rarely  even  get  a  sting.  I  never 
use  veil,  gloves,  nor  bee-dress  of  any  description ; 
and  yet,  although  I  work  a  good  deal  among  them, 
it  is  very  rarely  I  ever  get  a  sting.  Commence 
operations  by  blowing  a  little  tobacco  or  fustian  rag 
smoke  in  at  the  doorway  of  the  stock. hive  you  in- 
tend to  draw  the  swarm  from  ;  lift  it  from  itsst  and 
and  turu  it  upside  down,  a  little  distance  from 
where  it  stood;  then  lay  your  empty  hive  on  the  top 
of  it,  mouth  to  mouth.  If  nearly  of  the  same  size,  tie 
a  sheet  firmly  round  the  junction  to  prevent  bees 
escaping  to  annoy  you ;  or  if  different  sizes,  you 
should  be  prepared  with  a  round  board — say  24 
inches  in  diameter, with  a  14-iuch  diameter  round  hole 
in  the  centre  thereof,  to  lay  between  them  during 
the  time  that  you  are  drawing  them.  I  mention  this 
size  because  it  is  likely  to  fit  drawings  from  any 
size.  After  you  are  sure  that  you  have  the  hives  so 
well  closed  up  that  they  cannot  escape  between 
them,  take  two  sticks  and  give  your  under  one,  that 
is,  the  stock  hive,  some  sharp  raps,  say  from  three 
to  five  minutes ;   by  that   time  you  should  have 


16 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


plenty  up  into  the  empty  one,  but  will  know  from  the 
hum  if  there  is  plenty.  The  queen  is  among  the 
first  to  run— so  that  you  are  sure  that  you  have  her — 
into  the  empty  one.  Set  your  new  swarm  where  the 
old  stock  hive  stood,  setting  the  old  one  a  few  yards 
distant  to  either  side ;  contract  the  entrance  till 
they  get  stronger,  to  prevent  their  stronger  neigh- 
bours from  plundering  them.  The  best  time  for 
this  operation  is  about  five  or  six  o'clock,  in  the 
month  of  May  or  June,  when  the  bees  have  mostly 
returned  from  the  fields.  I  have  tried  them  in  the 
morning,  but  I  found  that  there  was  mostly  a  stir 
among  them  then ;  but  when  done  at  night  they 
are  quietly  settled  and  at  work  in  the  morning,  the 
same  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  Do  not  be  alarmed 
although  there  are  not  many  working  in  the  old  stock 
for  a  few  days,  for  it  will  require  the  most  of  them 
left  to  nurse  the  brood  for  about  a  week.  Or, 
another  way  of  drawing  a  hive : — Take  a  strong  lying- 
out  hive,  cut  a  small  piece  of  comb  with  eggs  in  it 
out  of  some  other  hive,  where  you  have  a  healthy 
queen,  fixing  it  in  the  top  of  your  empty  hive  ;  then 
lift  your  lying-out  stock  hive  about  midday,  when 
the  most  of  the  bees  are  in  the  fields,  and  put  the 
empty  one  down  on  its  stand,  making  it  as  like  the 
old  one  in  outward  appearance  as  you  possibly  can, 
setting  your  stock  down  in  some  other  place  of  your 
apiary.  The  bees  returning  from  the  fields  will  ap- 
pear a  little  confused,  going  in  and  out,  flying  about 
a  little,  but  will  soon  settle  and  rear  a  queen  out  of 
the  eggs  you  put  in  with  the  comb. 

At  page  278  of  your  last  number,  Mr.  C.  H. 
George  says  that  he  thought  it  was  already 
thoroughly  proved  and  universally  acknowledged 
that  bees'  eggs  when  laid  were  of  different  sexes. 
Now,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  they  are  all  one  sex 
when  laid,  and  that  the  bees  can  rear  queens  out  of 
eggs  either  laid  in  drone  or  workers'  cells  if  taken 
from  a  healthy  well-doing  hive.  I  am  surprised  that 
such  an  easily  tested  point  regarding  bees  remains 
disputed,  and  trust  that  some  of  your  bee-keeping 
readers  will  try  the  simple  experiment,  publi  shing 
the  results  during  next  summer.  He  says  that  in 
the  year  1868  he  saw  drones  unusually  early  at  a 
hive,  which  excited  his  suspicions  of  the  capabilities 
of  his  queen.  I  will  explain  the  cause  of  his  queen 
producing  only  drones.  The  hive  that  she  was  in 
would  lose  their  queen  some  time  in  the  month  of 
September  preceding,  when  there  were  still  eggs ;  but 
by  the  time  that  they  reared  a  young  queen  from 
the  workers'  eggs  the  drones  would  all  be  killed  ; 
therefore  she  would  not  be  fertilized.  Consequently, 
all  the  eggs  that  ever  she  would  lay  would  produce 
drones;  if  laid  in  workers'  cells  they  would  be 
small  ones,  little  larger  than  the  working  bee,  and 
those  in  the  drone  cells  would  just  be  like  common 
drones.  He  says  that  on  the  5th  of  June  he  drove 
his  hive  and  gave  them  a  piece  of  worker  comb  con- 
taining eggs  from  a  pure  Ligurian  stock,  and  his  bees 


only  attempted  to  raise  one  queen,  in  which  they 
were  successful.  I  think  that  this  proves  that 
they  are  of  one  sex  when  laid,  or  how  could  they 
raise  a  queen  from  a  worker's  egg  ?  He  further  says, 
"  She  had  the  characteristic  marks  of  the  Ligurian, 
but  was  very  small,  and  turned,  muclr  to  his  surprise, 
a  drone-breeder,  &c."  The  cause  of  this  was  that 
his  young  queen  was  not  fecundated; — drones  pro- 
duced from  an  unfertilized  queen,  and  there  would 
only  be  that  sort  in  his  hive.  And  he  further  says 
"  that  on  the  15th  of  July  he  removed  a  queen  from 
a  black  stock  of  bees,  and  on  the  23rd  of  the  same 
month  he  destroyed  every  queen  cell,  giving  it  a 
piece  of  worker  comb  containing  eggs  and  brood  in 
all  stages.  From  this  breeder  the  bees  formed  many 
queens'  cells ;  but  everyl  cell  produced  a  drone, 
&c."  Now  eggs  of  unfertilized  queens  cannot  be 
changed  by  the  workers ;  so  that  was  not  a  fair 
experiment  to  test  whether  the  eggs  were  all  one 
sex  or  not  (page  282). 

Mr.  "E.  G.  W."  mentions  he  would  like  to  hear 
more  of  the  iron  cover  invented  by  me,  which  I 
herewith  give ;   they  are  made  of  sheet  iron  wel 
painted  inside  and  out. 


Fig.  12.  Hive-cover. 
a.  The  cover  for  ventilator  to  draw  up  and  down  as  it  may  be 

required. 
A.  The  ventilator;  small  holes  pierced  in  the  sides  of  it  to 

admit  of  air. 

c.  The  lid  of  the  cover  hinged  at  the  back,  with  a  hasp  for  a 

padlock  at  front. 

d.  The  body  of  the  cover. 

c,  e.  Hasps  fixed  to  the  cover,  with  a  hole  in  them  to  admit  of 
a  bolt  to  go  through  below  floor-board,  so  that  you  can 
lock  the  whole  together. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


17 


Whatever  size  your  hives  are,  the  covers^should 
be  about  two  inches  in  diameter  larger,  to  admit  of 
some  dry  hay  between  the  cover  and  hive  during 
winter.  Since  mentioning  them  in  the  November 
number,  I  have  got  a  few  made  for  gentlemen  in 
different  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom ;  they  have 
only  to  be  seen  to  bring  them  into  general  use  ;  they 
are  so  much  superior  to  any  that  have  hitherto  been 
tried  to  cover  hives. 

I  will  send  any  person  particulars  about  them 
through  the  post  that  does  not  fairly  understand  ; 
but  they  are  so  simple  in  their  construction  that 
any  tinman  could  make  them. 

Whitburn,  Linlithgoicshire .        John  McLtjre. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Anchovies.— Mr.  Frank  Buckland,  who  has  re- 
ceived a  sample  of  fish  that  had  been  caught  in  large 
quantities  on  the  Devonshire  coasts  the  last  two  or 
three  weeks,  pronounces  them  to  be  certainly  an- 
chovies. He  adds  that  they  are  probably  wanderers 
from  the  Bay  of  Biscay. — H.  Budge. 

LniNJSA  glabra  {Mull).—  Some  time  ago  I  found 
a  locality  for  this  species  here.  It  was  a  small  pond, 
and  was  quite  dry  when  I  took  some  of  the  shells 
living,  on  the  12th  of  June.  It  was  still  dry  when  I 
collected  some  more  on  the  13th  of  August.  The 
shells  taken  on  the  latter  occasion  revived  on  being 
put  in  the  water.  As  evidence  that  water  had  not  lain 
in  the  pond  during  the  intervening  two  months,  I 
may  add  that  I  found  a  living  chrysalis  of  a  Noctua, 
and  many  land  beetles,  with  other  insects,  under  the 
dead  water-plants  where  the  L.  glabra  had  taken 
refuge.  On  the  29th  of  November  I  found  a  little 
water  in  the  pond,  and  a  dip  of  the  net  produced  L. 
glabra  alive  and  crawling.  I  fancy  the  pond  was 
dry  much  longer  than  two  months,  this  summer.  At 
any  rate,  this  drought  did  not  kill  L.  glabra,  which 
was  the  only  shell  in  this  pond.  Another  one,  a 
short  distance  off,  contained  many  Limncea  peregra 
and  Spha-riim  lacustre,  which  were  all  killed  by 
the  drying-tip  of  their  pond. — Harry  C.  Leslie, 
Erith.  ' 

A  Shark's  Meal. — I  copy  the  following  from 
the  West  Briton  of  Nov.  17th.  Some  of  our  readers 
will  recollect  the  loss  of  the  barque  Nelson  on  a 
ridge  of  the  dangerous  Seven  Stones,  between  the 
Land's  End  and  Scilly.  Her  stern  burst  as  she 
foundered,  taking  down  with  her  a  cargo  of  lead  ore 
and  esparto  grass,  and  the  captain,  his  nephew,  and 
the  mate.  This  explosion  of  the  after-part  of  the 
barque,  and  her  subsequent  breaking-up,  must  have 
permitted  access  to  her  cargo  and  stores.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  the  Seven  Stones  light-ship  men, 


whose  vessel  is  three  miles  from  the  spot  where  the 
Nelson  went  down,  hooked  a  shark  about  54  ft.  long. 
On  opening  the  marine  pirate,  there  was  found  in 
him  a  whole  rat,  a  large  lump  of  beef,  and  a  quantity 
of  esparto  grass. — H.  Budge. 

Leporids.— Until  reading  Mr.  Spicer's  communi- 
cation in  the  November  number  of  Science-Gossip, 

1  quite  thought  all  naturalists  were  of  opinion  that 
the  Leporid  was  not  a  hybrid  between  the  rabbit 
and  hare.  I  think  the  experiment  to  make  them 
pair  has  been  tried  at  the  Zoological  Gardens  without 
success.  It  does  not  appear  very  likely  that  ani- 
mals which  in  some  respects  differ  so  widely  from 
each  other  should  breed,  and  still  more  unlikely  that 
their  young  should  be  fertile,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
Leporids. — H.  Budge. 

Hair-Tail  (Trichiurus  Upturns) . —  Allow  me, 
through  your  columns,  to  make  known  the  capture 
of  a  specimen  of  that  rare  fish  Trichiurus  Upturns, 
or  Hair  tail.  It  was  brought  to  me  this  morning 
(Dec.  10)  by  a  fisherman,  who  found  it  in  his  herring- 
net.    The  dimensions  of  the  fish  were :— : Length, 

2  ft.  5  in. ;  depth,  2  in. ;  length  of  gill-cover,  4  in. ;  of 
pectoral  fin,  Hin.  My  specimen  corresponded  with 
the  descriptions  and  figures  of  Yarreli  and  Couch, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  of  its  being  a  veritable  Trichi- 
urus. — Julia  C'olson,  Swanage,  Dorsetshire. 

Otters.— On  the  23rd  November  last,  a  keeper 
of  the  Angling  Association  captured  a  fine  pair  of 
otters  on  the  river  Bollin,  a  little  below  Ashley  Mill, 
Cheshire.  The  male  weighed  13f  lb.,  and  was 
41  inches  in  length;  the  female  weighed  14  lb., 
length  42  inches.— £.  H.  II. 

Ants.— Mr.  Frederick  Smith,  the  eminent  ento- 
mologist, of  the  Zoological  department,  British 
Museum,  has  kindly  informed  me,  after  having  seen 
a  specimen  out  of  my  formicary,  that  the  species 
whose  habits  I  described  in  the  November  number 
of  Science-Gossip  is  not  Formica  fusca,  but  F. 
nigra.— Edward  Fentone  Elwin,  Booton,  Norwich. 

Dragon-Flies  in  the  Metropolis.— I  have 
myself  observed  such  occasional  instances  as  that 
noted  by  Mr.  Harry  (Science -Gossip,  1S70, 
p.  262),  but  I  am  doubtful  whether  the  wings 
of  the  insects  have  been  the  means  of  bringing 
them  into  these  unlikely  places.  When  it  comes 
to  a  distance  of  several  miles  from  any  water  where 
the  preparatory  stages  would  be  likely  to  be 
passed,  I  must  confess  that  I  seek  some  other  expla- 
nation. Dragon-flies  are  strong  and  rapid  fliers,  it 
is  true,  and  eager  for  their  prey ;  yet  I  have  rarely 
found  them  in  the  country  at  any  considerable  dis- 
tance from  their  native  pond  or  ditch ;  least  of  all, 
is  it  likely  that  they  would  fly  in  a  direction  which 
would  promise  them  but  little  sport.    Now  it  must 


IS 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


be  remembered  that  every  day,  especially  in  the 
summer  season,  a  Einnber  of  insects  are  brought 
into  London  by  a  variety  of  agencies  against  their 
own  will.  An  instance  particularly  well  marked,  is 
that  furnished  by  the  multitudinous  trains  reaching 
the  metropolis  from  rural  districts.  The  carriages, 
after  remaining  for  a  time  in  the  sidings  of  stations, 
surrounded  by  vegetable  life,  become  the  resort  of 
moths,  flies,  and  other  species,  which  subsequently 
perform  long  or  short  journeys  without  paying  any 
fares  !  But  the  appearance  of  a  dragon-fly  in  town 
may,  I  believe,  be  thus  explained  :— Amongst  the 
quantity  of  garden  and  field  produce  brought  into 
London,  reeds  and  rushes  are  occasionally  to  be 
found,  being  used  as  packing.  Now  attached  to  the 
stems  of  these  there  are  at  times  various  aquatic 
pupa.  That  of  some  dragon-fly  is  likely  enough  to 
occur  sometimes ;  and  the  insect  thus  travelling,  if 
uninjured,  would  subsequently  emerge  in  the  winged 
state,  and  flit  its  little  hour  amongst  the  bustle  of 
streets.-/.  B.  S.  C. 

A  Likely  Story. — Naturalists  were  a  little 
unscrupulous  formerly,!  and  the  public  too  gulli- 
ble, or  the  following  could  not  have  been  gravely 
printed  in  an  old  magazine — a  type  of  not  a  few 
outrageous  fictions  which  were  received  without 
question  by  those  ignorant  of  the  rudiments  of 
Natural  History.  In  the  Mirror  of  the  year  1821 
it  is  reported : — 

"  Lieutenant  Hebestreit  has  discovered  the  means 
of  employing  a  kind  of  caterpillar  in  spinning  a  fine 
web,  which  is  perfectly  white  and  waterproof.  "With 
this  web  he  lately  constructed  a  balloon,  which  he 
inflated  by  burning  spirits  of  wine  under  it,  and 
which  ascended  in  the  large  hall  which  serves  as  a 
workshop  for  his  caterpillars.  He  can  make  them 
trace  ciphers  and  figures  in  their  web.  Por  this 
purpose  he  draws  the  outline  of  his  design  with 
spirits  of  wine,  which  the  caterpillars  avoid  and 
spin  round  it.  A  web,  7  feet  square  (!),  perfectly 
pure,  and  as  brilliant  as  taffety,  was  the  result  of 
three  weeks'  labour  of  about  500  caterpillars.  The 
subject  is  not  unworthy  the  attention  of  natural 
philosophers." 

They  must  have  been  naturals,  indeed,  Scottice, 
if  they  could  accept  this  lieutenant's  narrative. 

Baby  Spiders. — A  short  time  since  my  attention 
was  attracted  by  some  dark  object  suspended  against 
the  outer  wall  of  the  house,  in  a  sheltered  corner, 
which,  on  examination,  proved  to  be  a  mass  of  tiny 
spiders.  The  little  creatures  were  hanging  by  a  few 
threads  of  web  of  exquisite  fineness,  so  as  not  to 
quite  touch  the  wall.  They  were  congregated  in  a 
dense  cluster,  as  large  as  a  good-sized  walnut,  and 
must  have  been  many  hundreds  in  number.  They 
were  pale  yellow,  with  a  dark  spot  on  the  hinder 
part  of  the  body.    It  was  on  the  22ud  of  May  that 


I  first  saw  them,  and  they  remained  without  especial 
alteration  till  the  27th ;  the  weather  being  fine  and 
dry.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  they  were  all 
astir,  and  in  a  few  hours  had  formed  a  ladder  of 
web  reaching  to  the  ledge  of  a  small  window  about 
a  yard  above  the  spot  where  they  hung.  By  this 
they  all  mounted,  and  from  thence  formed  another, 
reaching  up  about  another  yard,  to  the  projecting 
slates  which  covered  a  water-tank,  under  shelter  of 
which  they  ensconced  themselves  in  a  dense  cluster 
as  before.  In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  some  slight 
showers  fell,  and  the  next,  the  28th,  was  a  day  of 
heavy  rain  without  intermission ;  but  the  wonderful 
instinct  of  my  tiny  friends  had  led  them  to  a  place 
of  perfect  shelter.  Let  rain  and  wind  drive  as  they 
would,  nothing  could  reach  them  beneath  the  wide 
flat  slates  under  which  they  had  taken  refuge.  The 
next  day  it  was  most  amusing  to  see  the  many  scouts 
who  went  on  exploring  expeditions  to  the  edge  of 
their  hiding-place ;  but  they  did  not  seem  to  bring 
back  any  satisfactory  tidings  till  the  1st  of  June, 
when  again  all  were  in  action  ;  and,  in  a  few  hours, 
a  third  ladder  was  formed,  reaching  this  time  to  the 
roof  of  the  house,  to  which  in  the  course  of  the  day 
they  all  mounted,  and  were,  alas!  lost  to  my  view. 
How  did  these  baby  spiders  live  and  thrive  ?  I 
never  saw  any  larger  spider  near  them,  and  they 
made  no  web,  properly  so  called ;  indeed,  if  they 
had,  anything  which  they  might  have  entrapped 
larger  than  a  midge  would  have  been  beyond  their 
powers.  Did  sun  and  air,  and  the  warmth  supplied 
by  their  close  contact,  suffice  for  their  nourishment  ? 
Or  do  the  young  of  the  spider,  when  first  hatched, 
possess  some  of  that  substance  which  is,  I  believe, 
called  in  full-grown  specimens,  the  "  fat-body,"  and 
which  enables  them  to  endure  long  fasts,  on  some- 
what the  same  principle  as  a  hybernating  animal  ? 
I  was  sorry  to  lose  sight  of  these  interesting  little 
creatures  before  I  could  ascertain  how  long  they 
would  remain  thus  associated  before  beginning  an 
independent  existence.  I  have  not  yet  detected  any 
webs  in  the  garden,  or  near  the  house,  which  appear 
to  be  occupied  by  any  of  my  much-regretted  little 
friends.-^.  T. 

Plumed  Gnat. — In  one  of  our  bedrooms,  for 
the  last  fortnight  or  more,  swarms  of  Plumed  Gnats 
are  seen  upon  the  window  panes.  This  is  confined 
to  the  one  room.  Can  you  explain  it  ?  "Where  do 
these  gnats  propagate  ?  We  have  no  water  near, 
or  a  chalky  soil,  nearly  ninety  feet  in  the  depth  of 
well.  The  room  faces  south.  There  are  two 
other  windows  in  the  same  line,  and  none  are  seen 
there.—/.  P.  G. 

The  Robin.— Can  any  reader  of  Science-Gossip 
inform  me  who  was  the  author  of  the  nursery  ballad 
called  "The  Death  of  Cock  Robin,"  and  when  it 
was  first  printed  ? — G.  B. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


19 


BOTANY. 

Goldilocks.— It  may  be  worth  noticing  that  on 
December  12th,  after  some  severe  weather  and 
many  nights  of  frost,  I  picked  a  flourishing  stem  of 
Goldilocks  (Ranunculus  auricomus),  with  two  full- 
blown bright  yellow  blossoms  upon  it,  which  had 
been  growing  in  a  hedgerow,  under  no  peculiar 
shelter. — C.  W.  Bingham,  Binghams  Meleombe,  Dor- 
chester. 

Loose-strife  (p.  237).— "T.  R."  will  find  what 
he  wishes  in  Pliny  (Hist.  Nat.,  xxv.  35  and 
xxvi.  83, 93),  where  it  is  said  that  oxen  which  will 
not  draw  peacefully  together  in  the  same  yoke,  may 
be  rendered  submissive  by  putting  branches  of  this 
plant  on  their  back.  It  may  be  mentioned,  however, 
that  Pliny  speaks  probably  of  Lythrum  Sa Hear ia 
(spiked  purpled  Loose-strife),  the  astringent  pro- 
perties of  which  are  said  to  have  been  discovered 
by  a  Greek  physician  called  Lysimachos,  so  that 
there  might  be  another  origin  of  this  name.  The 
English  Loose-strife,  as  well  as  the  German  Haderlos 
(Kittel's  "Flora"),  belong  both  to  a  class  of  new- 
made  plant-names  which  appear  to  me  altogether  a 
failure.  They  are  no  true  vernacular  names,  though 
in  some  cases  they  may  acquire  a  certain  degree  of 
popularity.  When  a  boy,  I  knew  Lysimachia  vulgaris 
as  Gelber  Weiderich  (yellow  willow-weed),  Lythrum 
Salicaria  as  Bother  Weiderich  (red  willow-weed). 
The  two  genera  are  not  distinguished  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  people,  and  names  as  Battel's  Haderlos 
would  be  to  my  Silesian  countrymen  as  unintelligible 
as  if  they  were  Chinese.  Is  not  the  English  Loose- 
strife in  the  same  case  ?— A.  Ernst,  Caracas,  Vene- 
zuela. 

The  Myrtle.— Fable  informs  us  that  the  Greeks 
named  this  tree  Muproe,  from  Myrsine,  an  Athenian 
damsel,  who,  being  overcome  in  wrestling  and  the 
race  by  Pallas,  died  of  envy  ;  but,  being  a  favourite 
of  Minerva,  she  was  metamorphosed  into  a  myrtle- 
tree,  which  the  goddess  held  next  in  esteem  to  her 
sacred  olive  ;  but  Poena  says  it  was  so  named  from 
the  fragrance  of  the  berries  and  plant  nearly 
resembling  the  celebrated  odour  of  myrrha,  myrrh. 
— Sylva  Florifera. 

The  Marygold.— The  Tagetes  appears  to  have 
been  introduced  into  this  country  as  long  back  as  the 
year  1573,  and  we  conclude  that  they  were  called 
Erench  Marygolds  from  our  having  first  received 
the  seed  from  France.  Gerard  says  the  African  Mary- 
gold  was  first  obtained  "  when  Charles  I.,  Emperour 
of  Pome,  made  a  famous  conquest  of  Tunis  ;  where- 
upon it  was  called  Flos  Aphricanus,  or  Flos  Tune- 
tensis."  But  as  these  plants  do  not  grow  naturally 
in  Africa,  we  may  conclude  that  they  were  first  re- 
ceived in  Spain  from  South  America,  about  the 
time  Charles  returned  from  the  coast  of  Africa  ;  and, 


in  compliment  to  that  monarch  for  having  given 
liberty  to  twenty-two  thousand  Christian  slaves, 
they  were  called  African  Marygolds.— Flora 
Ilistorica. 


Early  Gardeners.— The  monastic  buildings 
appear  to  have  been  almost  the  only  dwellings  to 
which  orchards  and  vineyards  were  attached  pre- 
viously to  the  reign  of  Henry  YIII.  But  it  was 
under  that  monarch  and  Elizabeth  that  the  most 
valuable  fruits  were  introduced  into  this  country ; 
for  at  that  time,  the  desire  of  discovery  pervading 
England,  many  fruits,  plants,  and  vegetables, 
hitherto  unknown,  were  brought  hither  from  the 
New  World.  So  little  does  horticulture  seem  to 
have  advanced  prior  to  that  period,  that  Queen 
Catherine  was  obliged  to  procure  her  salads  from 
Holland  ;  and,  according  to  Fuller,  green  peas  were 
seldom  seen,  except  from  that  country.  "  These," 
says  he,  "  were  dainties  for  ladies,  they  came  so  far 
and  cost  so  dear." — Phillips,  Fruits  of  Great 
Britain. 

The  Lotus. — A  misprint  may  probably  be  de- 
tected at  p.  272,  where,  in  lines  4,  5  of  this  article, 
the  word  "  antiquity  "  does  duty  for  ambiguity.  To 
sum  the  matter  up,  whilst  waiting  for  more  light, 
we  have  evidence  of— 1.  The  Nelumbium  speciosum, 
a  liliaceous,  bean-producing  plant,  which  was  used 
by  the  ancient  Egyptians  in  various  ways,  though 
not  now  found  in  that  country.  Herodotus  de- 
scribes it,  and  it  has  been  specifically  called  the 
Egyptian  bean,  used,  it  is  said,  for  lustration  to 
Isis,  the  goddess  of  fecundity  ;  the  bean  fitly  illus- 
trating vegetable  growth.  This  is  a  quasi-sacred 
use.  2.  Nympluea  Lotus  and  N.  ccerulea,  the  com- 
mon white  and  blue  lilies  of  the  Nile ;  still  abundant 
there,  and  freely  represented  in  Egyptian  interiors 
as  a  favourite  adjunct  of  all  feasts  and  festivals, 
and  sacred  to  Nofre  Atmoo.  Here  is  evidence  that 
the  Lotus,  of  various  kinds,  did  really  hold  a  semi- 
sacred  position,  as  generally  supposed,  although  full 
proof  the  exact  species  may  still  be  wanting.  I 
now  add  that  the  lotus-flower  appears  in  the  hands 
of  seated  figures,  when  feasting,  iu  later  Assyrian 
sculptures,  just  as  in  Egypt .  {Vide  Bawliuson's 
"  Ancient  Monarchies,"  vol.  ii.  tig.  117,  which  the 
reverend  professor,  at  p.  109,  styles  "  the  lotus,  or 
sacred  flower.")  Without  desiring  to  press  inde- 
corously upon  C.  V.  W.  or  C.  F.  \V\  (qy.),  I  think 
that  he  should  withdraw  one  expression.  He  says, 
"The  'lotus'  was  a  'sacred5  flower  among  the 
Egyptians,  as  an  emblem  of  a  certain  god ;  just, 
may  be,  as  the  'rose'  is  sacred  among  us."  This 
position  is  untenable,  and  the  parallel  altogether 
fails.  We  have  no  god  to  whom  the  rose  is  sacred, 
nor  do  we  worship  a  "  great  goddess  Britannia,"  in 
the  same  sense  that  Nofre  Atmoo  was  worshipped, 
nor,  indeed,  in  any  sense  but  a  jocular  one,  which 
is  no  worship  at  all. — A.  H. 


20 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Scale  of  Golden  Cakp  [Cyprinus  auratus). — 
In  order  that  our  series  of  figures  of  the  .scales  of 
Carp  may  be  rendered  more  complete,  we  give  that 


Fig-.  13.  Scale  of  Golden  Carp. 

of  the  Gold-fish,  or  Golden  Carp,  too  well  known 
to  need  description.  There  are  one  or  two  others 
which  will  be  furnished  as  soon  as  we  obtain  well- 
authenticated  specimens. 

Cells. —  In  last  month's  number  of  Science- 
Gossip  there  are  some  remarks  on  mounting  opaque 
objects  in  cells  with  loose  covers.  At  the  request 
of  our  section  I  forward  you  a  couple  of  specimens 
of  a  new  slide  for  this  purpose,  invented  by  Mr. 
Aylward,  one  of  our  members.  These  slides  are 
made  of  wood,  the  size  of  ordinary  glass  slips 
(3  x  1),  and  about  the  same  thickness.  The  cell  is 
sunk  in  the  centre,  and  admits  of  a  copper  cap 
being  placed  on  an  inner  ring  ;  the  outer  groove  is 
bevelled  off  to  allow  space  for  the  fingers  and  thumb 
to  remove  the  cap.  The  way  to  remove  the  cap  is  to 
grasp  the  milled  edge  with  the  nails  of  the  two  first 
fingers  and  thumb,  and  to  turn  as  if  to  unscrew  it, 
at  the  same  time  drawing  it  off.  The  cap  should 
be  slightly  turned  when  replaced.  The  advantages 
of  these  slides  consist  in  their  being  so  thin,  and  in 
having  a  loose  cover.  As  the  effects  of  mounting 
objects  in  permanently-closed  cells  were  so  well 
described  by  your  correspondent,  the  utility  of  this 
cell  is  obvious. — W.  Jackson,  Eon.  Sec.  Manchester 
Nat.  Hist.  Society. 

Eel-Pout  {Lota  vtdgaris).— The  Burbott,  Burbot, 
or  Eel-pout,  belongs  to  the  Codfish  family,  and  the 


only  one  found  in  fresh  water.  It  is  not  common 
in  Britain,  being  confined  to  the  north-east  of 
England,  and  is  absent  from  Scotland  and  Ireland. 
Avery  good  account  of  this  fish  will  be  found  in 


e<<F 


Fig.  14.  Scale  of  Eel-Pout. 


"  Couch's  British  Fishes,"  vol.  iii.  page"  93.  AYc 
give  a  figure  of  the  scale  more  than  usually  magni- 
fied, since  it  is  very  small  and  delicate.  The  Eel- 
pout  is  quite  a  lover  of  northern  regions,  since  it  is 
found  in  Sweden  and  other  places  in  the  north  of 
Europe,  as  well  as  noithern  Asia. 

Preserving  Alg^e,  &c. — Eor  the  preservation  of 
mosses,  algaj,  &c,  Dean's  compound  is  much  used, 
and  considered  one  of  the  best  media.  The  speci- 
men to  be  mounted  should  be  immersed  in  the  com- 
pound, which  must  be  kept  fluid  by  the  vessel  con- 
taining it  being  placed  in  hot  water.  In  this  state 
the  whole  should  be  submitted  to  the  action  of  the 
air-pump,  as  it  is  not  an  easy  matter  to  get  rid  of 
the  bubbles  which  form  in  and  around  the  objects. 
The  cell  and  slide  must  be  warmed  ;  and  heat  will 
also  be  necessary  to  render  the  gelatine,  &c,  fluid 
enough  to  flow  from  the  stock-bottle.  The  cell  may 
then  be  filled  with  the  compound,  and  the  specimen 
immersed  in  it.  A  thin  glass  cover  must  then  be 
warmed,  or  gently  breathed  upon,  and  gradually 
lowered  upon  the  cell,  taking  care,  as  with  all  liquids, 
that  no  bubbles  are  formed  by  the  operation.  The 
cover  may  be  fixed  by  the  aid  of  gold-size,  japan, 
or  any  of  the  usual  varnishes  ;  care  being  taken,  as 
before,  that  all  the  compound  is  removed  from  the 
parts  to  which  the  varnish  is  intended  to  adhere. — 
Dacics  on  Mounting,  8fc. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  C  E-GOSSIP. 


21 


NOTES     AND    QUEEIES. 

"Eye-stones."— For  the  last  fifteen  years  I  Lave 
liad  in  my  cabinet  two  small  specimens  of  what  are 
vulgarly  called  "Eye-stones."  I  am  uncertain  whether 
they  are  familiar  objects  to  a  naturalist,  and  should 
be  happy  to  learn  more  about  them.  All  the  infor- 
mation I  am  able  to  give  as  to  their  history  is,  that 
my  father  obtained  them,  about  fifty  years  since,  in 
New  York,  and  that  they  were  found  in  the  sand  of 
the  coast.  They  are  about  the  size  of  half  a  cherry- 
stone, and,  owing  to  their  form— plano-convex— are 
used  for  clearing  foreign  substances  from  the  eye. 
The  eyelid  being  raised,  the  flat  side  is  placed  next 
to  the  eyeball,  and  the  eyelid  suffered  to  close ;  it 
is  then  moved  on  its  course,  performing  the  circuit 
of  the  eye,  clearing  all  before  it.  Eor  my  juvenile 
amusement  they  were  placed  in  a  shallow  vessel 
containing  a  small  quantity  of  vinegar.  After  a 
few  moments,  small  bubbles  appeared  on  their  sur- 
face, and  they  suddenly  moved  about,  generally 
across  the  vessel.  Upon  examination  they  appear 
to  be  shells,  but  yet  have  no  aperture ;  so  the  ques- 
tion of  their  inhabitants  is  curious.  The  action  of 
the  vinegar  on  the  lime  of  the  shells  no  doubt 
causrs  effervescence,  and  therefore  movements 
similar  to  camphor  on  water. — Theodore  Charles 
Izo'I,  Upper  Clapton. 

Cladodus  mirabilis. — Among  the  many  obscure 
problems  respecting  coal-measure  fauna?  which  now 
wait  for  and  are  rapidly  receiving  solution,  there  is 
one  having  relation  to  the  tooth  known  as  Cladodus. 
The  fishes  of  the  Coal  period  were  of  two  kinds, — 
Selachians  and  Ganoids,  the  former  being,  with  the 
exception  of  their  teeth  and  spines,  cartilaginous ; 
the  latter  being  characterized  by  opercular  and  a 
greater  development  of  osseous  structure ;  but  none 
of  the  coal-measure  fishes  were  true  teleosts,  or 
bony  fishes  having  endo-skeletons  of  bone  re- 
sembling the  salmon,  herring,  &c,  of  the  present 
day.  Cladodus  teeth  evidently  belong  to  the  Sela- 
chians, or  cartilaginous  fishes ;  and  hence  they  are 
always  found  scattered  and  unattached  to  the  ori- 
ginal matrix.  The  teeth  known  as  Cladodus  have 
been  referred  to  two  different  coal-measure  Sela- 
chians, viz.  Gyracanthus  and  Ctenacanthus,  but  to 
which  of  these  two  they  belong  is  yet  included  in 
the  long  array  of  unsolved  problems  which  await 
the  investigation  of  palaeontologists.  I  am  disposed 
for  many  reasons  to  think  that  the  balance  of  evi- 
dence is  in  favour  of  Ctenacanthus  ;  my  chief 
reasons  for  holding  the  opinion  being,  that  they  are 
not  unfrequently  found  associated  with  remains  of 
Ctenacanthus,  and  that,  in  our  Northumberland 
coal-measures  at  least,  they  and  the  spines  of 
Ctenacanthus  are  rare :  whereas  the  spines  of 
Gyracanthus  are  abundant ;  and  as  the  teeth  con- 
sist of  material  equally  as  imperishable  as  the  spines, 


and  were  certainly  more  numerous  than  the  spines 
in  the  living  animal,  it  is  improbable  that  the  spines 
should  be  found  in  abundance,  and  the  teeth  very 
rarely  be  discovered. — T.  P.  Barkas,  F.G.S. 

Misprints. — Will  you  be  good  enough  to  correct 
a  slight  and  very  pardonable  misprint  in  my  note 
on  "Miltwast,"  in  the  December  number.  It  is, 
however,  a  misprint  which  causes  my  quotation  to 
read  nonsensically.  Instead  of  "  greenes  comming 
or  proceeding  from  the  rate  or  spleene,"  it  should 
be  "greeues"  (griefs).  Your  printers  have  also 
made  a  little  mistake  in  Mrs.  Watney's  brief  gossip 
about  bees  ;  in  fact,  it  is  not  the  first  time  they  have 
made  the  mistake  of  printing  "W.  Holland"  when 
that  lady  writes— R.  Holland. 

Formation  oe  the  Hen's  Egg. — Are  naturalists 
agreed  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  egg  is  formed  in 
domesticated  poultry  ?    It  is  asserted  that  the  egg 
is  formed  soft  within  the  bird,  being  blown  out  in  a 
semifluid  state,  and  hardened  by  exposure  to  the 
air.     This  to  a  certain  extent  must  be  true.     Last 
year,  however,  we  killed  a  hen  with  a  fully-formed 
egg  inside  her ;  the  shell,  though  thin,  being  quite 
firm  and  fit  for  the  table.    Weight  just  under  two 
ounces.    This  particular  egg  was  never  "  blown 
out."    Any  one  may  become  more  or  less  familiar 
with  the  internal  processes  of  a  hen.     The  germs 
or  ovaries  may  be  seen  as  small  as  a  pea,  and  their 
further  progress  traced  in  a  rudimentary  state.    I 
have  seen  brought  on  table,  from  one  hen,  a  suc- 
cession of  five  or  six  at  once,  graduating  in  size  from 
a  filbert  up   to  a  round  ball  an  inch  and  three- 
quarters  in  diameter,  without  perceiving  in  them 
any  trace  of  the  external  covering,  that  hard  cal- 
careous matter  which  we  call  shell.     It  would  ap. 
pear  that  this  coating  is  the  last  process  previous  to 
intended  ejection,  it  may  be  almost  a  momentary 
application.    In  considering  the  process,  we  have 
certain  necessities  to  deal  with,  which  must  have 
been,   so    to    speak,    considered    by  a    provident 
Creator:  1st.  The  convenience  to  the  bird  of  keeping 
the  egg  flexible  while  in  process  of  growth.    2nd. 
The  hindrance  &  fixed  coating  would  be  to  the  ferti- 
lizing influence  of  the  male  bird.    3rd.  The  certainty 
that  the  supply  of  matter  which  forms  the  shelly 
deposit  is  a  special  desideratum  to  the  bird  itself ; 
and  the  fact  that  where  suitable  food  is  wanting, 
the  shell  is  also  wanting  in  consistency,  would  seem 
to  show  that  the  shell  is  a  separate  and  local  applica- 
tion.    4th.   A  certain  mottled,    uneven,  curdling 
look,  often  found  at  one  end  of  an  egg,  like  ill- 
smoothed  mortar,    which    appears    as  if  it  were 
caused  by  a  sort  of  unsettled  ooze,  left  at  the  final 
closing  up  of  the  egg.    Can  anatomists  show  if  the 
mitre,  which  is  well  supplied  with  glands,  has  any 
province  to  perform  in  connection  with  this  pro- 
cess ? — A.  Hall. 


22 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE -GOS  SIP. 


"Vulcanite  Cells.—"  II.  II.  M."  (S.-G.,  Dec, 
page  2S2)  inquires  for  practical  information  as  to 
experience  with  Vulcanite  Cells.  Mine  are 
Pumphrey's.  I  have  tried  them  in  two  ways,  and 
succeeded  well  with  both.  I  first  tried  gold  size  as 
a  cement.  The  plan  was  as  follows  :  Lay  the  cell 
on  a  flat  surface,  and  paint  over  one  side  with 
moderately  thick  gold  size,  then  place  the  cell  in 
the  exact  centre  of  the  slide :  hold  over  the  lamp 
till  hot,  then  place  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  cell 
another  slip  of  glass,  and  put  the  whole  into  an 
American  clothes-peg  until  the  cement  is  quite  set. 
The  latter  precaution  is  necessary  because  the  cells 
are  sometimes  slightly  bent,  especially  if  they  have 
been  kept  in  a  warm  place.  Baking  in  a  cool  oven 
facilitates  the  hardening  of  the  gold  size.  The 
other  plan  was  with  marine  glue,  as  follows  :  Cut 
some  marine  glue  into  small  bits,  and  put  into  a 
bottle  with  about  half  its  bulk  of  methylated  chloro- 
form. Cork  the  bottle  loosely,  and  set  in  a  warm 
place  till  the  glue  melts.  The  heat  of  boiling  water 
is  sufficient  for  this.  Now  cork  closely  and  shake 
up  till  well  mixed ;  keep  the  bottle  warm  for  a  little 
while,  occasionally  shaking  up.  When  cold,  part 
of  the  chloroform  will  be  found  at  the  bottom  of 
the  bottle,  and  must  be  poured  off  by  breaking  up 
the  glue.  Probably  benzole  would  do  as  well  as 
the  chloroform  and  would  be  cheaper.  When  re- 
quired for  use,  warm  the  bottle  and  take  up  a  litlle 
of  the  glue  on  the  end  of  a  flat  pointed  splinter  of 
wood ;  warm  over  the  lamp  'and  spread  over  one 
side  of  the  cell,  as  in  using  the  gold  size.  Place  the 
cell,  cement  side  downwards,  on  the  slide ;  warm 
till  the  glue  melts  ;  put  on  the  top  another  slip  of 
glass,  and  put  into  a  clip  till  cold.  Lastly,  scrape 
off  all  superfluous  cement,  and  clean  the  slide  in 
the  usual  manner.  Of  the  two  methods  I  prefer 
the  one  with  marine  glue,  as  being  less  likely  to  be 
acted  on  by  balsam  or  preservative  fluids,  also  be- 
cause the  slides  are  more  easily  cleaned,  and  the 
cells  are  almost  immediately  ready  for  use.—/.  H. 

Vulcanite  Cells  (p.  2S2). —  In  answer  to 
"  Pi.  H.  M.,"  regarding  the  best  method  of  attach- 
ing Messrs.  Pumphrey's  Vulcanite  Cells  to  the 
glass  slide,  1  beg  to  say  that  I  find  they  adhere  well 
with  marine  glue,  if  roughened  on  a  flat  file  on  the 
side  intended  to  be  attached  to  the  glass.— P.  E.  B. 

Volition  in  Insects  (see  page  2G2). — We  have 
no  proof,  undoubtedly,  that  insects  possess  a 
central  brain.  The  evidence  of  dissection  tends 
to  show  a  series  of  brains  rather;  and  yet  I 
must  still  assert  that  there  is  a  directing  power 
somewhere ;  and  can  we  localize  it  in  any  other 
part  save  the  head  ?  Take  the  instance  of  a 
caterpillar :  if  the  parts  of  its  body  did  not  move 
in  unison  when  it  is  crawling,  wc  might  see  the 
head  pointing  forward,  the  claspers  turning  to  the 


right,  and  the  legs  to  the  left.  This  does  not  occur. 
Look  at  the  same  creature  again  when  eating  :  by 
smell  or  sight  it  is  selecting  a  choice  morsel  of  leaf. 
To  aid  the  jaws  in  their  manipulations,  the  body 
and  legs  are  instantly  obedient  to  the  animal's  will. 
I  do  not  think  the  example  of  the  fly  given  proves 
anything  :  motions  of  the  muscles  may  take  place 
after  the  guidiug  power  has  ceased  to  direct  them. 
Nor,  again,  can  the  possession  of  volition,  and  its 
situation  in  any  particular  part,  furnish  any  proof 
that  insects  have  a  nervous  system  conveyiug 
sensations  aualogous  to  the  higher  animals. — 
/.  R.  S.  G. 

In  a  Tank.— A  short  time  since  I  put  a  small 
stone  roach  into  a  tauk  containing  an  eel  seven  or 
eight  inches  long,  and  a  male  Dyticus  marginalia. 
The  next  morning  I  found  the  conferva,  which  had 
been  growing  very  luxuriantly,  all  torn  up  for  a 
space  of  some  six  or  seven  inches  square,  and  rolled 
up  into  a  case  about  five  inches  long  and  one  inch  in 
diameter,  and  open  at  the  end  nearest  the  bottom. 
Considerable  force  must  have  been'used,  as  a  tuft  of 
Starwort,  which  had  been  there  all  the  winter,  was 
completely  uprooted  and  rolled  into  the  case.  I 
left  it  iu  the  water  for  about  a  fortnight,  watching 
it  closely  all  the  time,  but  saw  no  use  made  of  it, 
and  all  the  inhabitants  seem  quite  jolly  together. — 
J.  G.  Oclell. 

Musical  Coavs.— That  pigs  are  not  the  only 
animals  who  take  a  delight  iu  musical  sounds,  may 
be  proved  by  the  following  incident,  of  which  I  was 
a  witness  on  more  than  one  occasion.  Opposite  to 
our  house  was  a  large  field,  in  which  some  twelve 
or  thirteen  cows  were  put  during  the  summer 
months.  One  day  a  German  band  commenced  to 
play  in  the  road  which  divided  the  house  from  the 
field.  The  cows  were  quietly  grazing  at  the  other 
end  of  the  field,  but  no  sooner  did  they  hear  the 
music,  than  they  at  once  advanced  towards  it,  and 
stood  with  their  heads  over  the  wall  attentively 
listening.  This  might  have  passed  unnoticed ;  but, 
upon  the  musicians  going  away,  the  animals  fol- 
lowed them  as  well  as  they  could  on  the  other  side 
of  the  wall,  and,  when  they  could  get  no  further, 
stood  lowing  piteously  after  their  retreating  forms. 
So  excited  did  the  cows  become,  that  some  of  them 
ran  round  and  round  the  field  to  try  and  get  out,  but 
finding  no  outlet,  returned  to  the  same  corner  where 
they  had  lost  sight  of  the  band;  and  it  was  some 
time  before  they  seemed  satisfied  that  the  sweet 
sounds  were  really  gone.  It  seems  a  strange 
coincidence  that  both  the  pigs  and  cows  were 
charmed  by  music  produced  by  a  German  band.— 
L.  E.  Caffemta,  Belmont  Road,  Liverpool. 

Moss  Labels.— Can  any  reader  of  Science-Gos- 
sip inform  me  where  Lists  of  Mosses  for  herbarium 
labels  Cim  be  procured  ? — M.  LT. 


II  A  R  I)  W  I  C  K  E'S    SCI  E  N  C  E-G  0  S  S  I  P. 


23 


Observations  on  Insect  Life. — Several  years 
ago,  while  on  the  "  look-out "  of  one  of  our  large 
elevators,  I  noticed  a  plump  spider  fall  upon  the 
metal  roof  beneath  me,  and  a  wasp  darting  after  it, 
immediately  secured  it  in  a  sort  of  basket  formed  by 
its  legs,  and  then  flew  off  with  its  prize.  The  ques- 
tion now  was,  what  use  has  the  wasp  for  the  spider  ? 
The  next  season  following  gave  me  an  opportunity 
of  solving  it.  Noticing  several  wasps  about  some 
dingy  windows  in  an  area,  I  concluded  to  watch 
them,  and  soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  few 
depart  with  their  game.  I  traced  their  destination, 
and  found  it  to  be  a  number  of  clay  structures  under 
the  eaves  of  a  neighbouring  dwelling.  These  forma- 
tions had  numerous  perforations,  about  which  the 
wasps  busied  themselves.  Some  time  after  they 
had  abandoned  the  neighbourhood,  I  gained  ad- 
mittance to  the  house  and  removed  several  of  these 
adobe  nests.  I  opened  one  of  them,  and  found  a 
cell  containing  an  egg  or  larvae ;  the  cell  beside  it 
was  filled  with  spiders  in  a  torpid  state,  both  great 
and  small,  packed  closely,  with  their  front  legs 
turned  over  their  backs.  The  same  order  of  ar- 
rangement was  observed  in  the  balance  of  the  nest. 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  spiders  were 
placed  there  to  keep  a  necessary  temperature  for 
the  larvae.  I  was  not  satisfied,  however,  and  began 
a  search  among  various  authors,  until  Darwin,  in 
his  "  Researches,"  set  me  right,  by  describing  "  cer- 
tain wasp-like  insects  which  construct  in  the  coiners 
of  verandahs,  clay  cells  for  their  larvae.  These  cells 
they  stuff  full  of  half-dead  spiders  and  caterpillars, 
which  they  seem  wonderfully  to  know  how  to  sting 
to  that  degree  as  to  leave  them  paralyzed  until 
their  eggs  are  hatched,  and  the  larva;  feed  on  this 
horrid  mass  of  powerless,  half-killed  victims."  I 
might  go  on  and  relate  instances  of  the  courage  and 
ingenuity  of  the  garden  spider,  but  a  fear  that  I  am 
encroaching  on  your  valuable  space  forbids  it.  I 
will  close  by  giving  another  instance  of  the  useful- 
ness of  observations  of  iusect  life.  A  Scotch 
mathematician,  in  measuring  the  angles  of  a  bee 
cell,  discovered  an  error  in  a  table  of  logarithms 
"  sufficiently  great  to  have  occasioned  the  loss  of  a 
ship  at  sea,  whose  captain  happened  to  use  a  copy 
of  the  same  logarithmic  tables  for  calculating  his 
longitude."— 27.  W.  Bleyer,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Curious  Wood.  —  To  such  a  height  did  the 
fondness  of  the  Romans  for  curious  wood  carry 
them  at  one  period  of  their  history,  that  their 
tables  were  more  expensive  than  the  jewels  of  their 
ladies. — Sylva  Florifera. 

North  London  Naturalists'  Club. — We  are 
requested  to  state  that  the  notice,  which  recently 
appeared  in  Nature,  as  to  the  closing  of  the  North 
London  Naturalists'  Club,  is  entirely  untrue.  The 
Club  continues  its  meetings  on  the  fourth  Thursday 
in  the  month,  at  Myddelton  Hall,  Islington. 


Lime  Deposit  in  Boilers  (p.  2S1). — This  well- 
known  evil  consists  of  calcium  carbonate  (carbonate 
of  lime) :  The  formation  of  such  a  crust  may  be 
checked,  if  not  avoided,  by  adding  a  small  quantity 
of  sal-ammoniac  to  the  water,  soluble  calcium  chlo- 
ride, and  volatile  ammonium,  carbonate  being 
formed.  See  Roscoc's  "Elementary  Chemistrv," 
p.  176—  G.  II.  II. 

Vulcanite  Cells  (page  282).— If  "R.  II.  M." 
will  rub  the  part  of  the  cell  to  be  attached  to  the 
slide  on  a  file  or  a  piece  of  sandstone  to  take  off 
the  glossy  surface,  I  think  he  will  succeed  in 
fixing  them  with  marine  glue.  The  same  course 
should  also  be  taken  with  the  top  of  cell,  to  make  the 
cement  which  holds  the  cover-glass  firmly  adhere. — 
E.  G.,  Matlock. 

Tiie  Fungus  Theory.—"  Mr.  Erasmus  Wilson 
watches  with  amazed  curiosity  the  progress  of  the 
fungus  theory.  It  began,  he  says,  with  the  dermo- 
phytes  and  nosophytes  of  Gruby;  he  disbelieved  it ; 
and  disbelieves  it  still,  although  it  has  since  in- 
truded itself  into  almost  every  known  disease  of 
the  body  ;  at  first  there  was  a  struggle  for  the  dis- 
tinction of  genera  and  species.  Every  philosopher 
had  his  pet  fungus.  There  was  the  fungus  of 
Schonlein  and  the  fungus  of  Audouiu.  A  new 
order  of  knighthood  seemed  to  have  been  created 
throughout  Christendom,  and  every  knight  in  Europe 
proclaimed  his  own  parliculur  fungus  as  the  love- 
liest fungus  of  them  all.  Then  a  new  school  of 
philosophers  declared  that  the  difference  amongst 
the  various  fungi  was  only  a  difference  of  their 
habitat ;  and  that  the  same  fungus  transplanted  to 
different  beds  exhibited  those  differences  which  un- 
observant, or  too  acutely  observant,  philosophers 
mistook  for  other  species.  Then,  when  the  outside 
man  was  exhausted,  the  inside  mau  came  in  with  its 
discoveries.  There  were  fungi  for  aphthae,  fungi 
for  diphtheria,  fungi  for  cholera;  aud,  last  and  not 
least,  we  have  fungi  for  internal  cysts,  fungi  for 
syphilis,  and  fungi  for  gonorrhoea.  This  last  ab- 
surdity completes  the  measure.  '  Fungi,'  says  Mr. 
Wilson,  'are  the  morbid  development  of  the  natural 
components  of  the  cell-structure  of  the  economy ; 
and  just,  as  pus  is  the  product  of  the  nuclei  of  the 
cell-tissue,  just  as  mucus  is  equally  a  product  of  the 
normal  constituents  of  the  cells  of  the  epithelium, 
and,  being  produced,  enjoys  the  property  of  proli- 
feration and  growth  ;  so  these  presumed  and  omni- 
present fungi  are  the  gatherers  up  of  waste  and 
exhausted  organic  matter,  and'  are  ready  to  be 
found  wherever  waste  and  exhaustion  of  organiza- 
tion prevail.  Twenty  years  ago  we  taught  the 
nature  and  relations  of  fungous  life  to  all  who  chose 
to  give  heed ;  twenty  years  have  passed  away,  and 
modern  science  has  not  come  up  to  the  standard 
which  we  then  established.'  "—British  Medical 
Journal,  April  4,  1SG8. 


24 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


All  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  ba 
addressed  to  the  Publisher.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  can  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer, not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term  ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  them.  We  do  not 
undertake  to  return  rejected  manuscripts  unless  sufficient 
stamps  are  enclosed  to  cover  the  return  postage.  Neither 
can  we  promise  to  refer  to  or  return  any  manuscript  after 
one  month  from  the  date  of  its  receipt.  All  microscopical 
drawings  intended  for  publication  should  have  annexed 
thereto  the  powers  employed,  or  the  extent  of  enlargement, 
indicated  in  diameters  (thus  :  x  320  diameters).  Communi- 
cations intended  for  publication.should  be  written  on  one 
side  of  the  paper  only,  and  all  scientific  names,  and  names  of 
places  and  individuals,  should  be  as  legible  as  possible. 
Wherever  scientific  names  or  technicalities  are  employed,  it 
is  hoped  that  the  common  names  will  accompany  them. 
Lists  or  tables  are  inadmissible  under  any  circumstances. 
Those  of  the  popular  names  of  British  plants  and  animals 
are  retained  and  registered  for  publication  when  suffi- 
ciently complete  for  that  purpose,  in  whatever  form  may 
then  be  decided  upon.  Address,  No.  192,  Piccadilly, 
London,  W. 


H.  D.,  H.  M.,  J.  S.,  Jun. — We  do  not  pretend  to  name  more 
than  two  specimens  at  a  time  from  the  same  individual.  In 
two  instances  to  send  six,  and  the  other  ten  specimens,  is 
too  unreasonable  to  cause  any  hesitation  in  putting  the  rule 
in  force. 

W.  H.  S. — It  was  distinctly  stated  that  no  discussion  of  the 
question  "  Do  insects  feel  pain?  "  would  be  permitted  to  ex- 
tend beyond  the  December  number. 

J.  S.,  Jun. — No.  1  is  Crisia  denticulata.  No.  7  a  sea-weed, 
Corallina  officinalis.    No.  10  a  sea-weed  in  bad  state, 

E.  M.  H.— On  palm  is  Graphiola  phcenicis.  Only  by  pick- 
ing off  and  destroying  the  leaves  affected.  Will  you  send  us 
further  specimens,  with  locality  ? 

W.  C.  P. — It  is  the  "  Spindle  tree,''  Euonymus  europaeus. 

J.  M.  — You  will  not  induce  reptiles  to  eat  during  winter. 
All  you  can  do  is  to  let  them  alone,  giving  them  the  opportunity 
of  burying  themselves  from  the  frost,  under  leaves,  moss,  &c. 

A.  L.— We  cannot  answer  your  question  this  month.  If 
any  information  is  obtainable,  it  shall  be  given  in  a  future 
number. 

A.  R.— We  cannot  suppose  that  the  constantly  repeated 
notice  that  exchanges  must  be  written  out  fairly  and  legibly 
is  not  read  ;  our  only  conclusion  must  be  that  it  is  disregarded. 
Of  course  we  can  only  resort  to  the  penalty, — that  is,  non- 
insertion.  We  cannot  write  out  such  notices  afresh,  adding 
address,  and  giving  the  generic  names  in  full.  If  such 
notices  are  to  be  inserted  gratuitously,  surely  it  cannot  be  too 
much  to  require  that  they  should  be  written  as  they  are  to  be 
printed. 

G.  E.  Q.— The  Eel-pout  is  Lota  vxtlgaris. 


Constant  Subscribers  will  know  that  we  have  always 
insisted  upon  name  and  address  being  furnished,  so  that  no 
attention  will  be  paid  to  their  communications. 

A.  C. — The  Diatoms  are,  1.  Coacinodiscus  radiatus;  2.  Pin- 
nularia  nobilis.  3.  Campylodiscus  cribrosus.  4.  Endictyi 
oceanica  =  Melosira  cribrosus,  Sm.  5.  Aulacodisrus  marguri- 
taceus.     6.   Coscinodiscus  perforatus. 

Italian  Bees. — "A.  L."  wishes  to  know  where,  and  at 
what  price  he  can  purchase  a  Queen. 

J.  J.  Exon  wants  to  know  where  he  can  obtain  Professor 
Goodsir's  tube  for  studying  infusoria. 

S.  S.  desires  to  know  the  most  approved  method  of  hatch- 
ing chickens  by  artificial  means. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.— Only  one  "Exchange''  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Brita'ii)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Norices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Dicranella  fallax,  Houkeria  Icete-virens,  and  other 
mosses,  for  Tayloria  serrata,  Timtnia  megapolitana,  and 
others. — Miss  Jelly,  Albion-street,  New  Brighton,  Cheshire. 

Fronds  of  Ferns  showing  fructification,  unmounted,  for 
objects  of  interest  unmounted. — H.  D.,  Claremont  House, 
Waterloo,  Liverpool. 

Hair  of  Ermine,  Musquash,  Chinchilla,  Skunk,  Beaver, 
Jackall,  Platypas,  Minx,  Fox,  Otter,  and  Lion,  for  other 
material.— E.  J.  Wilson,  82,  Southampton-road,  Hampstead, 
N.W. 

British  and  Foreign  Land  and  Freshwater  Shells  in  ex- 
change for  foreign  ditto.— G.  S.  T.,  58,  Villa-road,  Handsworth, 
Staffordshire. 

Chalk  Fossils  for  Silurian  fossils. — John  Parker,  St. 
Faith's-lane,  Norwich. 

Svnapta  inh^erens,  in  spirit,  for  good  slides  of  the  Echi- 
nodermata,  diatoms,  or  other  interesting  objects. — William 
Swanston,  ",  College-square  East,  Belfast. 

Diatomaceous  Deposit  from  North  Wales. — Send  stamp 
and  object  of  interest. — W.  H.  Gomm,  Waltham  Abbey, 
Essex. 

Winged  Seeds. — Loplwspermum  scandens  and  others  for 
other  objects  (seeds  excepted).— C.  D.,  18/,  Oxford-street, 
Mile  End,  E. 

For  Membrane  of  Wing  and  Hair  of  English  Bats,  send 
stamped  envelope  to  Isaac  Wheatley,  Mailing-street,  Lewes. 
Any  microscopic  object  acceptable. 

Birds'  Eggs  for  fertile  eggs  of  Lepidoptera  or  pupae. — 
Thomas  H.  Hedworth,  Dunston,  Gateshead. 

Silurian  Fossils  for  those  of  the  Devonian,  Mountain 
limestone,  Permian,  Gault,  or  Green-sand  formations.— E. 
Hendon,  1,  Cleobury-terrace,  Berners- street,  Lozells,  Bir- 
mingham. 

BOOKS   RECEIVED. 
"  The  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal."     December,  1 S70. 
"The  Animal  World,"  for  December,  1870. 
"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  254,  255,  256,  257. 
"The  Gardener's  Magazine,"  for  December,  1870. 
"  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."    December,  1870. 
"  Journal  of  Applied  Science."  November,  December,  187C. 
"Proceedings  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Natural  His- 
tory Society  of  Montreal.''     1870. 

"The  American  Naturalist."     December,  1870. 


Communications  Received.— C.  J.  W.  R. — E.  C.  J. — K. 
C.  L.— H.  D.-C.  H.  W.— J.  S.,  Jun— H.  D.— H.  B.— T.  P.  B. 
—A.  H.— G.  S.  T.— A.  J.  M.  A.— J.  R.  S.  C.-W.  H.  S.-E. 
W.— J.  J.  E.-S.  S.-J.  P.  G.— J.  P.— G.  E.  Q.-J.  E.  T.— 
H.  E.  W.-E.  G.-H.  M.— J.  C— R.  H.— T.  W.  W.— H.  B.— 
T.  C.  1— S.  A.  H.— W.  S.— W.  H.  G.— W.  J.-A.  E— T.  H.  H. 
—J.  H  — I  W.-G.  R.-C.  D.-M.  H.— G.  H.  H.-P.  E.  B.— 
C.  W.  B.— W.  B.— E.  F.  E.— J.  McL.— A.  L—  A.  C— J.  M.— 
W,  C.  P.— E.  H.— E.  M.  H. 


HARD  YVICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


THE  STOEY  OF  A  PIECE  OF  BOCK-SALT. 


By  J.  E.  TAYLOR,  E.G.S.,  Etc. 


N   many  respects 
I  differ  from  my 
geological     asso- 
ciates,   although 
my     story,     like 
theirs, will  help  to 
fill  up  the  great 
lapse  of  time  de- 
manded by  the  antiquity  of 
the  globe.     My  origin  was 
perfectly  natural,  and  not  of 
that  semi-miraculous  nature 
which  some  people  have  ima- 
gined.  But  truth  is  stranger 
than  fiction,  as  my  own  case 
well  exemplifies. 

As  a  mineral  I  may  lay 
claim  to  be  almost  as  well 
known  as  my  neighbours  the 
pieces  of  coal  and  chalk.  Geo- 
logically speaking,  I  am  not 
limited  to  any  particular  formation  or  epoch, 
although  I  am  about  to  speak  of  my  experiences  of 
that  period  which  has  been  called  "  saliferous,"  or 
"  salt-bearing,"  on  account  of  the  larger  quantities 
of  rock-salt  to  be  obtained  from  it.  But  in  almost 
the  same  mineral  form  I  am  found  in  other  deposits, 
from  the  Silurian  up  to  the  Tertiary.  In  England, 
however,  it  is  in  that  formation  known  as  the  "  New 
Red  Sandstone,"  or  "Trias,"  that  I  occur  most 
considerably.  Iu  Cheshire  my  presence  is  indicated 
by  natural  brine-springs,  by  the  disfigured  surface 
of  the  earth  near  the  salt-mines,  and  by  the  dark, 
thick  clouds  of  smoke  which  stretch  across  the 
heavens. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  describe,  as  well  as  I  am 
able,  the  agencies  which  were  at  work  elaborating  me 
into  the  natural  condition  in  which  I  am  now  found, 
or  to  give  you  my  faint  recollections  of  the  physical 
geography  of  the  period,  and  the  animals  and  plants 
which  lived — let  me  borrow  a  few  general  remarks 
from  books,  as  to  the  classification  of  those  rocks  to 
No  74. 


which  I  here  belong.  Their  modern  name  of 
"  Trias  "  is  derived  from  the  tri-partite  division  into 
which  they  are  separable.  These  go  by  the  name 
of  "  Bunter,"  "  Muschelkalk  "  (a  German  name  for 
"  shelly  limestone  "),  and  the  "Keuper"  beds.  The 
former  prevail  largely  in  Lancashire,  Cheshire, 
Shropshire,  Warwickshire,  &c,  and  are  noted  for 
their  deep  red  colour,  as  well  as  for  their  thick  beds  of 
hardened  gravels,  or  conglomerates  of  liver-coloured 
quartz.  These  indicate  rough  action  in  the  seas 
where  they  were  deposited,  and  the  much-worn, 
rounded  pebbles  tell  an  equally  plain  story  of  the 
wear-and-tcar  to  which  they  have  been  subjected 
since  they  existed  as  angular  fragments  of  rocks. 
But  throughout  the  whole  of  this  series,  you  look 
almost  in  vain  for  any  fossils.  The  coarse  conditions 
uuder  which  the  beds  were  formed  were  antago- 
nistic to  the  preservation  of  any  organic  remains. 

Towards  the  conclusion  of  this  period,  in  Germany 
there  existed  a  tolerably  deep  sea.  The  waters  were 
pure  and  free  from  mechanical  sediment ;  and  here 
the  corals  and  encrinites  found  all  the  fitting  cir- 
cumstances for  their  luxuriant  growth  and  pro- 
creation. The  sea-bottom  was  alive  with  the  latter  ; 
one  particular  form,  whose  elegance  has  given  to  it 
the  name  of  the  "Lily  encrinite,"  being  peculiar  to 
this  particular  member  of  the  rock  series.  The 
coral  reefs  increased  in  the  shallower  places,  whilst 
amid  all  these  swam  great  fishes,  whose  teeth  pro- 
claimed their  reptilian  affinities,  or  still  huger  marine, 
reptiles.  Some  of  the  latter  had  their  teeth  especially 
formed  for  crushing  the  shell-fish  on  which  they  fed, 
and  which  swarmed  along  the  sea-bottom  in  count- 
less thousands.  Among  these  you  may  detect  forms 
which  belong  to  the  Palaeozoic  as  well  as  to  the 
Mesozoic  epoch— forms  which  geologists  not  long 
ago  imagined  were  limited  entirely  and  separately  to 
one  or  the  other  of  these  two  great  divisions  of  time. 

It  is  true  the  bed  containing  this  admixture  of 
Old  World  forms  is  slightly  younger  than  those  I  am 
more  particularly  dwelling  upon.  But  I  could  not 
forbear  drawing  the  attention  of  my  readers  to  this 

c 


26 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


striking  fact — that  the  so-called  "  breaks  "  in  the 
continuity  of  organic  remains  are  fast  disappearing 
before  a  more  general  geological  investigation.  The 
Hallstadt  and  St.  Cassian  beds,  occupying  the  bases 
of  the  Austrian  Alps,  were  formed  along  a  sea- 
bottom  during  later  Triassic  times,  where  the  fauna 
of  the  old  and  newer  worlds  met  and  commingled 
as  on  a  common  platform. 

But  it  is  to  the  third  division  of  this  interesting 
formation  that  I  must  specially  allude.  The  middle 
member,  the  "  Muschelkalk,"  is  absent  in  England, 
so  that  the  Keuper  beds  are  seen  in  many  places  in 
midland  and  northern  England  reposing  directly 
upon  the  Bunter.  Where  this  occurs  there  is  usually 
an  "  unconformability  "  between  the  two.  That  is 
to  say,  the  dip  of  the  two  sets  of  strata  is  different. 
This  means  that  the  lower  had  been  elevated  before 
the  upper  had  deen  deposited,  and  therefore  indi- 
cates a  break  in  time  between  the  two,  and  shows 
us  plainly  they  were  not  continuously  deposited. 

The  Keuper  beds  are  my  home.  Here  was  I 
bred  and  born  !  From  the  top  to  the  bottom,  you 
have  ample  evidence  of  the  physical  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  deposited.  Every  layer  in- 
dicates shallow  water;  in  the  ripple-marks,  sun- 
cracks,  rain-drop  pittings,  and  feet-impressions  of 
extinct  reptiles.  In  Cheshire  this  series  contains 
beds  of  rock-salt  and  gypsum,  the  whole  attaining 
a  thickness  of  fifteen  hundred  feet.  The  beds  of  rock- 
salt  of  which  I  am  a  humble  portion,  frequently 
attain  the  thickness  of  a  hundred  feet ;  and  the 
area,  in  Cheshire  and  elsewhere,  over  which  these 
extend,  is  calculated  to  be  above  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  across !  This  represents  the  magnitude 
of  the  natural  salt-pan  where  I  was  formed.  The 
beds  are  usually  split  up  by  a  layer  of  clay  or  marl, 
and  the  rock-salt  masses  are  usually  tinted  with  a 
dirty  red,  caused  by  the  slight  admixture  of  iron. 
But  not  a  trace  of  a  fossil  or  any  other  organic 
remain  do  you  ever  get  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
salt-bearing  beds !  Farther  away,  on  what  would 
be  the  flat  shores  of  the  sea  where  the  salt  was 
precipitated,  you  get  evidences  of  fish  and  reptile 
life;  as  in  Shropshire,  Cheshire,  Leicestershire, 
Warwickshire,  &c.  Mechanical  impressions,  such 
as  ripple-marks  and  sun-cracks,  are  plentiful  enough 
in  the  true  salt-bearing  series;  but  no  vital  evi- 
dences ! 

What  does  this  general  absence  of  fossils  mean  ? 
It  is  not  that  they  could  not  be  preserved,  for  you 
have  seen  that  other  impressions  are  well  enough  and 
accurately  enough  laid  by.  It  must  mean  that,  in 
such  limited  areas  at  least,  life  from  some  cause  or 
another  was  excluded.  Such  was  actually  the  case. 
The  shallow  sea  was  so  salt  that  no  animal  life 
could  exist  therein.  You  have  similar  conditions 
now  in  existence.  The  Dead  Sea,  extensive  though 
it  is,  has  no  fauna.  Its  waters  are  thoroughly 
desolate,  and  know  nothing  of  the  pleasures  of  life. 


They  are  nothing  but  a  vast  menstruum,  in  which 
chemical  solutions  are  so  thick,  that  precipitations 
of  the  surcharges  are  constantly  occurring.  The 
Dead  Sea  level  is  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  below 
that  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  I  am  told  that  the 
neighbourhood  is  marked  by  Dead  Sea  beaches, 
indicating  that  the  waters  have  been  shrinking  for 
generations  bygone.  The  river  Jordan  continues  to 
pour  in  his  waters,  which  waters  are  more  or  less 
charged  with  mineral  matter  held  in  solution. 
The  Jordan  waters,  however,  are  all  evaporated 
from  the  Dead  Sea  surface,  and,  as  the  mineral 
matter  cannot  be  disposed  of  in  the  same  way, 
there  is  no  alternative  except  precipitation.  This 
is  actually  going  on,  and  I  am  told  that  solid,  cubic 
crystals  of  pure  salt  may  be  dredged  from  the  Dead 
Sea  bottom. 

As  well  as  I  can  remember,  the  physical  condi- 
tions of  the  Keuper  sea — at  least  over  part  of  the 
Cheshire  area — very  much  resembled  those  now  in 
action  in  Palestine.  The  shells  and  thin  flagstones 
of  the  Keuper  elsewhere  are  frequently  marked  by 
the  cubic  pseudomorphs  of  salt,  indicating  that,  far 
away  from  where  the  salt  was  most  rapidly  forming, 
the  water  was  supersaturated.  The  absence  of 
molluscan  and  fish  life  in  the  Dead  Sea  will  enable 
you  to  understand  the  reason  why  the  Cheshire  salt- 
bearing  beds  contain  no  fossils,  although  they  are 
so  thickly  crowded  with  evidences  of  ordinary 
atmospherical  and  mechanical  action.  When  these 
beds  were  deposited,  a  Dead  Sea  existed  in  Che- 
shire and  Worcestershire,  and  for  so  long  a  period 
that  these  thick,  massive  beds  of  rock-salt  were 
formed  along  its  bottom  by  the  simple  action  of 
precipitation.  We  may  regard  these  massive  beds, 
therefore,  as  locally  representing  the  excess  of  salt 
— just  as  iron-stone  bands  represent  the  excess  of 
iron,  and  coal-seams  the  excess  of  carbon.  The  only 
difficulty  which  appears  is  the  comparative  purity  of 
the  rock-salt  layers,  and  this  the  element  of  time 
sufficiently  explains.  It  is  very  evident  that  the 
physical  conditions  remained  unchanged  for  a  long 
time,  otherwise  the  rock-salt  would  have  been  inter- 
calated with  layers  of  other  material.  The  stratum 
of  shell  or  marl  which  separates  the  two  main  beds 
indicates  a  temporary  suspension  of  these  circum- 
stances, after  which  the  older  conditions  returned 
and  lasted  until  an  entire  change  had  set  in.  These 
salt-masses  are  more  or  less  rudely  crystallized  into 
columns,  but  I  believe  this  was  a  subsequent  process 
to  the  formation  of  the  salt  itself.  Of  course  the 
lime-springs,  from  which  so  much  of  the  salt  of  com- 
merce is  now  extracted,  have  been  formed  simply  by 
the  surface  water  percolating  the  beds,  and  dissolv- 
ing some  of  the  solid  salt  in  its  course.  At  its  exit, 
at  a  distance  from  the  rock-salt  masses,  it  is  then 
charged  with  this  culinary  mineral.  In  many  parts 
of  Cheshire  the  surface  is  doited  with  "  meres,"  or 
fresh-water  lakes,  the  haunts  of  rare  birds  and  plants, 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


27 


and  the  prettiest  spots  to  be  found  in  Old  England. 
In  many  cases — perhaps  in  all — I  believe  these  to 
have  been  formed  by  the  slow  setting  of  the  over- 
lying rock-masses  over  the  hollows  left  by  the  dis- 
solving of  the  rock-salt  beneath  in  the  way  I  have 
mentioned.  I  am  told  that  in  coal  districts  it  is 
very  common  for  the  upper  rocks  to  settle  over  the 
emptied  seams,  and  to  leave  hollows  on  the  surface. 

I  have  simply  given  you  my  own  idea,  to  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  of  how  rock-salt  was  formed.  I 
have  heard  others  repeat  their  own,  and  if  you  like 
will  give  it  you,  so  that  you  may  take  them  all  for 
what  they  are  worth ;  they  have  supposed  a  portion 
of  the  sea  to  be  separated  from  the  rest  by  a  bar  of 
sand,  over  which  the  ocean-waves  every  now  and 
then  toppled  to  supply  it  with  water.  In  this  cut- 
off sea,  evaporation  was  going  on,  and  a  correspond- 
ing precipitation  of  salt;  the  toppling  water  of 
course  supplying  the  place  of  that  which  had  been 
evaporated.  It  is  certain  that  rock-salt  contains 
many  of  the  same  minerals  as  those  usually  met  with 
in  sea-water;  such  as  iodine,  bromine,  magnesia, 
&c.  So  far,  therefore,  the  argument  is  in  favour  of 
a  truly  marine  origin  of  salt.  And  the  occurrence 
of  fish,  reptiles,  mollusca,  &c,  in  beds  of  about  the 
same  age  as  those  of  central  Cheshire,  indicates  the 
extension  of  a  sea  in  which  the  water  was  fitted  for 
animal  life.  However,  in  either  of  these  opinions, 
the  same  principle  lies  at  the  bottom ;  viz.,  that 
rock-salt  was  precipitated  from  the  surcharged 
saline  sea,  and  that  evaporation  by  solar  heat  was 
the  immediate  cause ! 

And  now  allow  me  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
animals  which  lived  on  the  dry-land  surface  at  the 
time  when  these  important  economical  stores  were 
being  laid  up.  First  were  several  species  of  a  great 
frog-like  reptile,  or  Batrachian.  This  type  had 
come  into  existence  during  the  Carboniferous  epoch, 
although  such  primeval  types  seem  first  to  have  been 
purely  marine  in  their  habits.  During  the  Triassic 
epoch,  however,  they  certainly  existed  as  land  rep- 
tiles. The  largest  of  these  great  frogs  was  about 
the  size  of  a  small  ox ;  their  teeth  are  of  a  very 
peculiar  labyrinthine  structure,  and  this  character 
is  very  persistent.  Singularly  enough,  the  feet- 
impressions  of  these  reptiles  were  found  by  geolo- 
gists long  before  any  of  their  remains  had  been  met 
with.  Owing  to  their  remarkable  likeness  to  an 
impression  left  by  the  human  hand,  the  hypothetical 
animal  leaving  them  was  named  Cheirotherium,  or 
the  "Beast  with  the  hand."  Another  reptile,  which 
combined  lower  with  higher  reptilian  characters  in 
a  very  extraordinary  manner,  was  the  Rhynchosaurus, 
or  "Beaked  Saurian."  It  had  the  features  of  a 
turtle,  as  regarded  its  horny  bill,  combined  with  the 
characters  of  a  true  lizard.  It  seems  to  have  been 
web-footed,  for  in  many  parts  of  Shropshire  and 
Cheshire  the  sandstone  flags  are  marked  as  thickly 
with  its  webbed  feet-marks,  as  is  the  margin  of  a 


clayey  pond  with  those  of  ducks !  This  reptile  was 
not  nearly  so  large  as  the  first  I  mentioned.  The 
Lahyriirfhodou,  as  that  is  now  called,  seems  to  have 
haunted  the  shores  of  the  Keuper  Sea,  for  its  foot- 
marks are  found  at  many  levels.  These  are  gene- 
rally seen  traversing  ripple-marks,  as  though  the 
creature  had  passed  over  between  tides. 

In  America,  the  same  geological  formation  is  im- 
pressed for  more  than  a  thousand  feet  in  thickness, 
with  the  crowded  foot-prints  of  extinct  birds.  Every- 
where you  have  evidence  of  slow  subsidence — a 
subsidence  that  was  first  compensated  for  by  the 
amount  of  material  deposited  over  the  subsiding 
area.  You  may  often  trace  for  yourselves  some- 
thing of  the  habits  of  these  singular  and  extinct 
British  reptiles,  so  well  have  the  soft  sandstones 
done  their  duty  fin  recording  what  they  felt  and 
saw !  Here  the  Labyrinthodons  slowly  lifted  their 
feet  from  the  soft  mud,  from  which  there  dropped 
portions  before  they  were  next  set  down.  Or  you 
may  trace  where  they  sluggishly  squatted  down,  or 
where  their  huge  bellies  trailed  over  the  soft  ooze! 

But  by  far  the  most  interesting  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  dry  land  were  small  warm- 
blooded animals,  belonging  to  the  lowest  divi- 
sion of  the  class — the  Marsupials,  or  "pouched 
animals."  These  are  now  inhabitants  of  Aus- 
tralia, Tasmania,  and  North  and  South  America 
— their  isolated  distribution  proving  their  vast  an- 
tiquity. In  the  times  intervening  since  they  first 
made  their  appearance,  species  belonging  to  this 
group  have  lived  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
That  to  which  1  am  alluding  is  very  remarkable,  as 
being  probably  the  first  warm-blooded  animal  which 
appeared  on  the  earth !  Its  name  is  Microlestes,  or 
the  "  little  thief,"  so  called  on  account  of  its  in- 
sectivorous habits,  as  indicated  by  its  teeth.  This 
little  creature — for  it  was  not  much  bigger  than  a 
rat — preyed  on  the  insects  which  then  abounded  in 
the  pine-forests,  or  amid  the  thickets  of  fern  and 
club-moss. 

In  a  bed  of  later  date,  formed  at  the  close  of  the 
Triassic  epoch,  and  now  termed  the  Rhsetic  forma- 
tion, the  strata  are  crowded  with  fossil  insects. 
Erom  this  time  forth  the  geologist  never  loses  sight 
of  the  mammalia,  and  many  deposits  of  later  date 
contain  a  considerable  number  of  species.  In  its 
fossil  state,  the  Microlestes  has  been  found  both  in 
Germany  and  England.  However,  time  fails  me  to 
say  what  I  have  heard  of  the  strange  creatures 
which  lived  elsewhere,  during  the  epoch  when  I 
was  born.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  nu- 
merous gigantic  birds,  whose  foot-prints  are  found 
in  the  Connecticut  Valley,  had  reptilian  affinities— 
just  as,  during  the  Oolitic  period,  the  reptiles  had 
ornithic,  or  bird-like  affinities. 

In  South  Africa  there  existed  a  peculiar  group 
of  reptiles  termed  Dicynodonis,  from  the  peculiar 
walrus-like  characters  of  their  tusks  or  teeth.  They 

c2 


28 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


occur  there  in  such  abundance  that  the  strata  can  be 
identified  by  their  remains.  The  dry  land  everywhere 
was  covered  by  a  flora  much  resembling  in  its  general 
characters  that  of  the  Carboniferous  epoch.  This 
is  the  last  we  see  of  the  familiar  coal  forms,  for 
others  were  already  in  existence,  destined  soon  to 
replace  them,  and  render  them  extinct.  Thus  much, 
therefore,  for  the  dim  recollections  of  a  piece  of 
Hock-salt ! 


ICE  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

(With  Notes  on  Methods  of  Refrigeration.) 

TN  the  hot  season  of  1816,  when  I  first  visited 
-*-  Benares,  North- West  Provinces,  India,  I  was 
much  surprised  at  seeing  placed  before  me  at  dinner 
a  Nesselrode  pudding,  and  at  finding  that  all  our 
liquors  were  iced.  I  inquired  how  this  was  done, 
expecting  to  find  that  saltpetre  and  Glauber's  salt, 
which  I  heard  were  often  used  for  cooling  pur- 
poses in  India,  had  been  employed.  But  judge  of 
my  astonishment  when  I  was  told  that  ice  had  been 
used,  and  that  the  said  ice  had  been  manufactured 
at  Benares,  where  the  thermometer  seldom,  if  ever, 
falls  so  low  as  42°  Pahr. 

I  will  presently  give  a  short  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  obtained ;  but  I  will  first 
gossip  a  little  about  the  various  methods  of  cooling 
beverages,  &c,  in  common  use,  where  ice  cannot 
be  obtained  in  India. 

1st.  Tatties,  or  screens  made  of  khas-khas  grass, 
are  placed  in  the  window-frames,  and  by  water  being 
thrown  upon  them  the  fierce  hot  winds  create  a 
great  coolness  inside  them  by  forcing  themselves 
through  the  interstices,  having  become  cool  through 
the  rapid  evaporation  of  the  water,  which  process 
produces  intense  cold. 

On  the  lee  side  are  placed  plates  of  fruit,  bottles 
of  water,  wine,  &c.,  which  are  well  cooled  in  this 
manner.  The  "khas-khas"  consists  of  the  roots  of  a 
sort  of  grass  with  an  aromatic  odour,  found  growing 
in  sandy  places  (Aiulropogon  veterina). 

2.  But  in  many  places  khas-khas  cannot  be  ob- 
tained, and  I  have  then  seen  bottles  of  water,  wine, 
beer,  &c.,  placed  in  loose  straw  in  open-work  wicker 
baskets  well  sprinkled  with  water,  attached  by  a 
rope  to  a  high  bough,  and  swung  violently  to  and  fro 
in  the  hot,  still  air,  whereby  a  very  considerable 
degree  of  coolness  has  been  imparted.  This,  of 
course,  was  caused  by  the  same  rapid  evaporation 
in  a  hot  current  of  air. 

3.  Again,  frames  are  constructed  of  grass  or 
khas-khas,  to  swing  backwards  and  forwards,  with 
places  made  in  either  side  for  bottles,  which  were 
kept  well  watered. 

4.  But  yet,  again,  another  way.  Water  is  placed 
in  a  porous  jar  or  "  soraiee  "—such  as  the  GennMi 
jars  of  Egypt — wrapped  round  with  a  wet  cloth 


and  placed  in  a  hot  place.  This  rapidly  becomes 
cool,  as  do  the  bottles  which  stood  in  it. 

5.  Next  to  ice  the  best  thing  is  a  mixture  of  salt- 
petre and  Glauber's  salt — I  believe  about  \  of  the 
latter  to  f  of  the  former.  These  are  dissolved  in 
water,  and,  whilst  dissolving,  the  bottle  to  be  cooled 
is  shaken  violently  about  in  the  liquid,  whereby 
great  cold,  even  to  freezing  ices,  is  produced  ;  and 
for  many  years  our  ices  were  so  prepared  in  their 
moulds  for  table  use. 

But,  to  return  from  this  digression,  I  will  relate 
how  the  ice  is  obtained  at  many  up-country  stations 
in  the  North- West  Provinces  of  India ;  and  as  the 
railway  is  now  bringing  Wenham  Lake  ice,  imported 
via  the  Presidency  towns,  into  more  general  use, 
it  may  be  worth  placing  on  record  as  a  thing 
becoming  rapidly  obsolete. 

Prom  my  inquiries,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  great  Akbar  had  his  ice  prepared  in  the 
same  manner  at  Agra,  and  the  natives  now  manu- 
facture it  as  well  as  Europeans. 

The  residents  at  a  station  generally  club  together, 
raise  a  fund,  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of  some 
energetic  member,  who  proceeds  as  follows  : — 

He  builds  an  ice-house  and  lays  out  ice-fields. 
This  ice-house  consists  of  a  pit,  some  fifteen  feet  in 
diameter  aud  as  many  in  depth,  dug  in  as  dry  a 
place  as  can  be  selected,  on  a  level  spot  not  too 
exposed.  This  pit  is  liued  with  double  planking, 
with  chaff  well  rammed  between  the  two  sets  of 
boards;  whilst,  to  increase  the  non-conducting 
power  of  heat  of  the  sides,  a  lining  is  generally  put 
in,  consisting  of  a  thick  rope  of  tightly-tied  up  straw 
or  stalks,  wound  round  and  round  interiorly. 

Arrangements  by 'pumping  or  dipping  arc  also 
made  for  keeping  the  space  clear  of  the  water  which 
accumulates  at  the  bottom,  owing  to  the  melting  of 
the  ice. 

Over  this  ice-well  there  is  erected  a  round  house 
with  very  thick  walls,  sometimes  single  and  at 
others  double,  whilst  over  all  is  a  very  thick  conical 
thatch.    A  small  door  completes  the  building. 

Into  this  the  ice  is  brought  as  collected  in  large 
baskets  as  fast  as  possible,  and  men  are  employed 
to  beat  it  down,  so  as  to  consolidate  it ;  and  upon 
this  ice,  so  stored,  depends  the  luxury  of  cool  be- 
verages in  the  hot  weather. 

But  now  to  its  manufacture. 

The  level  ground  is  laid  out  in  broad  walks,  and 
these  intersect  one  another  at  right  angles,  forming 
large  beds.  These  beds  are  again  subdivided  into 
smaller  ones,  of,  perhaps,  10  feet  square.  At  the 
points  of  intersection  are  placed  large  earthen  tubs 
filled  with  water,  and  by  them  arc  large  heaps  of 
small  shallow  saucers,  of,  perhaps,  5  or  G  inches  in 
diameter  and  14  inch  deep.  The  level  of  the  beds 
is  about  4  or  5  inches  lower  than  that  of  the  paths. 

Hard  by  stands  a  large  stack  of  straw,  and  many 
baskets,   large   and  small,  are  ranged    alongside. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


29 


This  straw  is  spread  lightly  and  loosely  on  all  the 
beds;  and  upon  it,  as  closely  as  possible,  are  placed 
the  little  saucers. 

In  the  evening,  when  there  is  a  fair  promise  of  a 
clear,  bright,  still  night,  with  whatever  zephyr 
there  may  be  from  the  north  or  north-east,  men 
come  and,  with  long  ladles,  dip  out  water  from  the 
tubs  and  pour  a  little  into  each  of  the  saucers,  of 
which  there  are  sometimes  10,000  set  up  in  a  single 
night.  Should  all  go  well,  and  the  thermometer 
fall  as  low  as  44°  Fahr.,  without  fog  or  wind,  a  thin 
coating  of  ice  may  be  expected  on  every  pan. 
Should,  however,  clouds  get  up  or  wind,  the  little 
which  may  have  heeu  formed  will  rapidly  melt. 

We  will,  however,  suppose  that  all  goes  well, 
when,  long  before  daylight,  there  may  be  heard  the 
beating  of  many  small  drums,  called  "Tam-tams," 
to  summon  a  host  of  women  and  children  from  all 
the  surrounding  hamlets  to  gather  in  the  harvest. 

The  water  in  the  large  tubs  having  been  ex- 
pended in  filling  the  little  pans,  large  open-work 
wicker  baskets  are  placed  on  their  tops,  in  which 
the  ice  has  to  drain  and  be  weighed,  ere  it  is  de- 
posited in  the  ice-pits. 

The  small  baskets  are  spread  everywhere  along 
the  paths.  Each  worker  is  provided  with  some  tool 
for  scratching  out  the  ice  from  the  pan,  either  a 
knife  or  a  small  sickle,  or  even  a  bit  of  iron  hoop. 

Men  are  appointed  to  superintend  ;  aud  now 
commences  a  strange  scene.  Hundreds,  nay  thou- 
sands, are  sometimes  employed  all  at  once,  and 
every  one  is  in  a  hurry.  The  clattering  of  the 
scnipers,  the  rushing  hither  and  thither,  and  the 
constant  chatter,  are  quite  bewildering. 

However,  all  work  with  a  will,  and  in  less  than 
an  hour  the  ice  is  all  gathered  and  the  empty  little 
pans  piled  in  heaps  in  the  corner  of  each  bed. 
Many  small  baskets  have  filled  the  large  one,  and, 
in  the  aggregate,  perhaps  2,000  lb.  of  ice  have 
been  collected. 

The  thickness  of  a  florin  is  considered  to  pro- 
duce a  very  excellent  crop,  whilst  it  is  often  gathered 
when  only  half  that  thickness. 

The  cause  of  the  formation  of  ice  at  the  high 
temperature  of  42°  to  44°  Eahr.  is  doubtless  the 
rapid  evaporation  of  the  water  which  percolates 
through  the  earthen  pans  in  some  degree,  there 
also  being  a  current  of  air  through  the  loose  under- 
lying straw,  occasioned  by  the  dryness  of  the 
atmosphere.  Directly  the  air  becomes  moist  with 
fog  or  otherwise,  all  formation  of  ice,  as  above 
noted,  ceases. 

These  ice-fields  often  occupy  several  acres,  so 
that  it  can  easily  be  imagined  what  a  number  of 
people  must  be  employed.  Directly  the  work  is 
finished,  all  assemble  at  a  known  spot,  where  stands 
a  man  with  a  sack  of  pice,  or  small  copper  money, 
two  or  three  of  which  are  given  to  each. 

This  ice  is  generally  gathered  about  Christmas, 


although  I  have  known  good  takes  in  January  and 
February,  and  the  pits  are  not  opened  for  use  till 
April  or  May,  when  the  hot  weather  is  setting  in 
in  earnest. 

One  share  generally  costs  about  £5,  and  for  this 
the  shareholder  receives  at  the  pit's  mouth,  by 
weight,  eight  pounds  of  dirty  flake  ice  every  other 
morning.  The  distribution  takes  place  before  day- 
light, i.e.,  at  what  is  held  to  be  the  earliest  time 
of  the  twenty-four  hours.  The  servant  receives  it 
and  places  it  in  a  rough  dry  blanket,  ties  it  up 
tightly  in  a  bundle,  and  beats  it  well  on  the  outside 
with  a  wooden  mallet  which  he  brings  for  this  pur- 
pose, in  order  to  drive  out  the  water.  He  then  places 
the  bundle  in  a  covered  basket  made  of  "sholah"  (2Es- 
chjnomene  Indica)  the  pith  of  a  plant  often  used  for 
making  hats,  and  a  great  non-conductor  of  heat.  This 
basket  is  wadded  within  and  without  with  cotton, 
and  then  covered  with  cloth.  Arrived  at  his  mas- 
ter's house,  he  again  beats  it  and  puts  it  in  the  ice- 
box. Here  are  placed  the  bottles  of  water,  wine, 
beer,  butter,  &c,  which  it  is  wished  to  cool,  and 
then,  with  a  beating  once  or  twice  a  day,  this  ice 
will  last  for  at  least  two  days,  till  the  next  supply 
comes  in.  On  an  average  the  supply  holds  out  for 
four  or  four  and  a  half  months ;  so  that  the  cost  is. 
about  2d.  or  24d.  per  pound.  Of  course  the  cost 
of  production  varies  immensely.  A  series  of  bad 
nights  after  preparations  have  been  made,  or  of  in- 
efficient ice-gatherings,  will  enhance  it  much;  whilst 
four  or  five  good  nights  will  often  fill  the  pits. 

The  great  secret  of  keeping  the  ice  is  to  allow  no 
moisture,  and  to  surround  it  with  non-conductors 
of  heat  as  much  as  possible ;  and  it  may,  perhaps, 
not  be  out  of  place  here  to  describe  what  appears 
to  be  the  best  form  of  ice-box  which  can  be  made 
up  anywhere,  and  which  may  prove  useful  to  colo- 
nists and  others  either  unable  to  get  ice-safes,  or 
unwilling  to  go  to  the  great  expense  of  purchasing 
them.  There  are  now  many  freezing-machines  in 
use,  and  the  ice  made  in  them  may  be  kept  in  a 
similar  manner. 


Fig.  15.  Section  of  Ice-box. 


30 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE- GOS  SIP. 


Take  an  old  box  or  packing-case  2  feet  0  inches 
square  (or  any  other  size),  put  a  strong  closely-fit- 
ting cover  or  lid  on  hinges ;  fix  on  legs,  say  1  foot 
high ;  then  of  the  tin  which  it  was  lined  with  make 
a  tin  box,  1  foot  6  inches  square,  pointed  at  the 
bottom,  into  which  fix  a  thin  pipe  with  a  little  cot- 
ton in  it,  so  that  the  water  may  only  fall  a  drop  at 
a  time.  Imbed  this  tin  box  (zinc  is  better)  in  a 
packing  of  sawdust  or  bran  and  pounded  charcoal, 
as  shown  in  the  shaded  part,  so  that  there  shall 
be  5  inches  around  it  well  packed  on  every  side. 
Put  on  a  cover  with  a  lid  closely  fitting,  so  that 
the  packing  shall  not  get  into  the  cooling  compart- 
ment. 

Lastly,  make  a  padded  cushion,  3  inches  thick,  to 
fit  well  between  the  two  covers,  and  you  have  a  first- 
rate  yet  simple  ice-box.  The  ice  put  in  this  may 
be  in  blocks,  as  is  the  Wenham  Lake  ice,  or  in 
blankets  as  above  described,  and  I  think  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  above  plan  will  commend  itself  to 
every  one.  I  have  used  it  many  years,  and  made 
many  for  others,  and  I  trust  the  hints  above  noted 
may  prove  of  general  use. 

C.  Hokne,  late":B.C.S. 


THE  ROBIN. 

"  rjlHE  little  bird  with  the  pious  breast,"  as  one 

-*-  of  our  poets  designated  the  Robin,  seems 
quite  a  winter  subject  to  write  on,  so  I  send  you  a 
notice  of  my  newest  pet. 

Six  weeks  ago  I  found,  on  going  into  my  room 
one  afternoon,  a  pretty  Robin  flying  about;  so, 
closing  the  window,  I  proceeded  to  catch  it,  and 
having  caught  it,  wishing  to  keep  it  until  my  boy 
came  home  at  night  from  school,  I  put  it  in  the 
cage  with  my  canary. 

Madam  Yellow-dues  seemed  much  astonished  at 
the  appearance  of  her  visitor,  fluttered  about  him, 
and  began  to  talk  in  bird  language;  but  Bobby 
took  little  heed  of  her.  After  the  lapse  of  half  an 
hour,  he  suddenly  brushed  up,  and  began  to  pick 
a  little  raw  meat  which  I  had  provided  for  him. 
He  appeared  so  contented  witli  his  new  quarters 
before  night,  that  I  determined  to  keep  him ;  so  I 
went  out  to  purchase  a  cage,  and  began  to  fear 
that  I  should  have  to  come  back  without  one ;  for 
such  an  article  was  not  to  be  had  in  the  shops 
where  such  ought  to  be ;  but,  most  fortunately,  1 
mentioned  my  difficulty  in  another  quarter,  and  a 
cage  was  kindly  spared  to  me. 

Bobby  was  introduced  to  his  new  home  at  once, 
but  the  doors  of  both  cages  being  left  open,  he  had 
the  liberty  of  choice  given  him.  He  preferred 
sleeping  on  his  own  porch,  and  ate  a  very  good 
breakfast  next  morning;  so  I  began  to  entertain 
hopes  of  keeping  him,  although  every  one  said, — 


"He'll  die."  "He'll  beat  himself  to  deatn 
against  the  bars." 

Then  others  said,  "He'll  never  sing;"  and  one 
friend  told  me  "  It  is  unlucky  to  keep  a  Robin." 

One  evening,  soon  after  the  lamp  was  lighted,  I 
heard  a  low,  sweet  song;  it  was  very  faint,  and  the 
notes  ceased  directly  I  spoke.  Next  evening  the 
strain  was  repeated,  and  now  Bobby  opens  his 
beak  wide,  and  gives  out  the  entire  power  of  his 
voice  in  song.  He  sings  in  the  daytime,  especially 
if  the  weather  be  very  rough  out  of  doors. 

Bertie  says,  "  Bobby  is  pleased  to  think  he  is  in 
comfortable  quarters,  when  so  many  of  his  poor 
relatives  are  out  in  the  snow ;"  but  1  am  unable  to 
decide  whether  Bobby  is  so  unamiable  and  selfish 
as  this  would  imply ;  or  if  it  is  the  sound  of  the 
howling  wind  that  excites  his  vocal  accomplish- 
ments into  action. 

His  chief  time  for  performing  is  after  the  lamp 
has  been  lighted,  when  I  am  at  dinner — a  time 
when  all  respectable  Bobbies  ought  to  have  then- 
heads  under  their  wings  —  and  he  looks  out  for 
sundry  portions  of  the  meat.  I  have  discovered 
that  he  likes  a  chicken  bone  to  pick,  and  fully 
approves  of  plum-pudding;  but  rejects  a  drop  of 
sherry  in  his  goblet  of  water,  as  he  does  a  decoction 
of  saffron ;  but  he  enjoys  a  tepid  bath  in  a  big 
saucer  exceedingly,  and  shakes  his  head,  and  flaps 
his  wings  in  a  way  that  would  justify  the  sedate 
members  of  the  Robin  family  in  placing  him  under 
greater  restraint  than  I  have,  when  he  wants  me 
to  understand  he  would  like  a  dip. 

He  scarcely  looks  at  the  canary ;  she  was  at  first 
very  attentive  to  him,  following  him  from  cage  to 
cage ;  but  she  has  now  turned  spiteful,  and  pecks 
at  him.  He  is,  I  am  glad  to  say,  too  much  of  a 
gentleman  to  beat  her.    He  hops  away. 

She  has  laid  five  eggs,  and  quite  expected  Bobby 
to  help  in  making  a  nest  out  of  some  wool  she  suc- 
ceeded in  drawing  into  her  cage,  but  this  he  did 
not  appear  to  know  anything  about. 

I  wish  some  one  accustomed  to  birds  would  tell 
me  if  a  caged  Robin  has  ever  been  known  to  pair 
in  the  spring  with  a  canary.  A  hybrid  between  the 
two  birds  would,  I  should  fancy,  exhibit  strange 
plumage,  and  prove  a  valuable  songster.  If  there 
is  a  chance  of  it,  I  would  get  a  proper  cage  and 
nest-making  materials,  and  let  the  canary  set. 

Helen  E.  Watney. 

Beaumaris,  North  Wales. 


Eel  Pout.— It  was  stated  in  the  last  number  of 
Science-Gossif  that  the  Eel-Pout  {Lota  vulgaris) 
was  confined  to  the  north-east  of  Eugland.  I  beg 
to  state  that  it  has  been  several  times  caught  in 
the  Penk,  a  tributary  of  the  Trent,  near  Penkridge, 
in  Staffordshire—  TF.  A.  S. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE   GOSSIP. 


31 


THE  HUMAN  EYE. 

npiIE  publishers  of  a  work  just  issued  on  "  The 
-*~    Wonders  of  the  Human  Body,"  *  translated 
from  the  Erench,  give  the  following  reasons  for 
doing  so.     "  There  is  an  increasing  tendency  in  the 
present  day  to  make  common  property  of  special 
knowledge.    Even    such  information  as  formerly 
belonged  to  certain  professions  alone  is,  at  least  in 
its  rudiments,  becoming  more  'generally  diffused ; 
and  on  the  part  even  of  those  professions  the  ten- 
dency is   recognized  as  within  reasonable  bounds 
deserving  of  encouragement.    To  take  '  the  human 
body '  as  an  illustration,  medical  men  find  that  the 
useful  feature  of  their  art  is  facilitated  by  the  dis- 
semination of  information  regarding  its  structure 
and  functions.    On  the  other  hand,  the  public  daily 
see  more  and  more  clearly  that  'prevention  is  better 
than  cure,'  and  that  to  prevent  derangements  of 
the  wonderful  machine,  with  the  guidance  of  which 
each  individual  is  entrusted,   more  acquaintance 
with  its  mechanism  and  laws  of  normal  action  is 
indispensable.    Apart  from  its  utility,  a  knowledge 
of  anatomy  and  physiology  is  gradually  becoming  a 
necessary  part  of  a  liberal  education.     To  meet 
these  requirements  the  publishers  now  present  this 
translation  from  the  French  of  a  book  which,  in  the 
original,  has  attained  to  great  popularity,"  &c. 

Without  attempting  to  institute  comparisons 
between  this  book  and  others  on  the  same  subject 
which  preceded  it,  we  will  content  ourselves  with 
an  extract  from  the  chapter  on  "The  Human  Eye." 
"As  regards  the  distance  at  which  man  can  distin- 
guish objects,  he  is  less  gifted  than  many  other 
animals;  but  in  every  other  respect  his  visual  powers 
are  at  least  equal  to  that  of  inferior  beings.  We 
know  very  little  of  the  sensations  produced  in  ani- 
mals by  colours ;  it  seems  probable  that  they  have 
a  relative  perception  of  them  to  a  certain  extent,  as 
the  sight  of  red  irritates  the  bull,  for  example ;  and 
we  know  that  birds  of  prey  from  a  great  height  in 
the  air  distinguish  the  colour  as  well  as  the  form  of 
a  lark  or  quail  hiding  in  the  ploughed  fields,  although 
it  so  closely  resembles  that  of  the  soil.  But  if  we 
should  suppose  them  endowed  with  sensitive  facul- 
ties, useless  within  the  limits  of  their  instinct, 
could  we  find  anything  in  animals  more  perfect  than 
the  organs  to  which  man  owes  the  prodigies  of 
painting?  We  must,  however,  distinguish  here 
between  that  which  pertains  to  the  visual  apparatus 
and  that  which  proceeds  from  the  intellect.  The 
eye  perceives  the  tints  which  nature  offers  in  almost 
infinite  variety ;  the  mind  compares  them,  and  re- 
cognizes the  elementary  colours  of  which  they  are 
composed ;  the  eye  reflects  in  turn  the  model,  the 

*  "Wonders  of  the  Human  Body,"  from  the  French  of 
A.  le  Pileur,  M.D.  Illustrated  by  forty-five  engravings  by 
Leveille.    London  :  Blackie  &  Son. 


palette,  and  the  picture;  the  mind  perceives  the 
relation  of  shades,  and  combines  them  in  such  a 
manner,  that  by  mingling  or  contrasting  them  such 
a  result  is  produced  as  conforms  to  the  first  im- 
pression; but  in  order  that  an  artist  may  judge 
whether  red  or  blue  predominates  in  a  violet  tint, 
in  order  to  appreciate  the  shade,  the  retina  must 
transmit  it  to  the  brain  iu  its  purity. 

"At  the  manufactory  of  the  Gobelins  we  see  the 
wools  used  in  the  fabrication  of  the  tapestries 
arranged  according  to  their  shades.  The  number 
of  these  shades  exceeds  23,000,  and  yet  when  we 
compare  two  approximate  shades  we  distinguish 
them  with  facility,  and  perceive  the  interval  which 
separates  them. 

"The  people  who  live  in  the  country,  seamen,  and 
especially  men  living  in  a  savage  state,  generally 
have  sharper  sight  than  the  residents  of  cities.  May 
not  the  habit  of  seeking  to  distinguish  objects  at  a 
distance  give  the  eyes  a  power  which  is  not  acquired 
when  they  always  act  within  a  limited  horizon? 
Without  assimilating  exactly  the  effects  of  exercise 
on  the  eye  to  those  which  result  from  exercise  of  a 
muscle,  we  are  justified  in  thinking  that  an  almost 
incessant  accommodation  to  great  distances  must 
influence  the  eye  in  that  respect,  and  if,  as  is  very 
probable,  the  accommodation  takes  place  by  the  con- 
traction of  the  muscular  fibres,  the  explanation  of 
the  increased  range  of  the  eye  from  exercise  is  very 
simple  ;  but  facts  are  wanting  which  verify  and 
measure  this  increase  in  individuals.  There  is  no 
doubt,  however,  that  men  from  whom  the  horizon  is 
habitually  distant  distinguish  certain  objects  at  a 
point  where  they  are  confused  to  other  persons, 
although  within  the  reach  of  their  vision. 

"  A  ship  appears  on  the  horizon,  a  man  unac- 
quainted with  the  sea  can  hardly  distinguish  the 
sails  of  this  white  cloud  springing  from  the  waters ; 
but  a  sailor  will  tell  you  that  it  is  a  brig,  or  a  three- 
master,  a  war  vessel  or  a  merchant  ship,  and  often 
he  will  even  come  at  its  tonnage,  its  lading,  its  na- 
tionality, and  its  name.  The  Arab  and  the  European 
in  the  midst  of  the  sands  of  Sahara  see  on  the  hori- 
zon an  object,  which  to  the  European  is  only  a  black 
point  without  appreciable  form ;  the  Arab  sees  a 
camel  distinctly,  and  declares  that  it  is  at  such  or 
such  a  distance,  without  ever  being  deceived. 

"The  inexperienced  mountain  traveller  sees  before 
him  a  chaos  of  slopes  and  abrupt  walls,  of  elevations 
and  windings,  among  which  he  can  distinguish 
neither  route  nor  practicable  passage  ;  but  the 
mountaineer  sees  at  once  the  accessible  points,  and 
the  turns  which  he  must  take  to  reach  the  summit 
of  the  apparently  impassable  barrier.  This  proves 
not  that  the  sailor,  the  mountaineer,  and  the  Arab 
have  sharper  sight  than  the  strauger  to  their  coun- 
try ;  but  that  they  have  learned  to  know  the  signi- 
fication of  such  and  such  details  of  form,  such  a 
particularity  of  colour,  and  the  like,  which  are  for 


32 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


them  distinguishing  marks,  which  seem  to  trace 
before  their  eyes  the  description  which  they  give  to 
their  fellow- voyager  of  objects  that  are  either  con- 
fused or  imperceptible  to  him.  It  is,  therefore,  to 
acquired  notions,  and  skill  in  seeing  objects,  rather 
than  to  extent  of  vision,  that  they  owe  the  faculty 
of  distinguishing  objects  at  great  distances. 

"We  find  also  in  all  countries,  and  in  all  climates, 
men  who  have  extraordinary  power  of  vision. 
Wrangel  speaks,  in  his  'Voyage  to  the  Polar  Seas,' 
of  a  Yakoute  who  related  having  seen  a  great  star 
swallow  little  ones,  and  then  vomit  them  up  again. 
That  man,  says  Wrangel,  had  seen  the  eclipses  of 
the  satellites  of  Jupiter.  Humboldt  tells,  in  his 
'.Cosmos,'  of  a  tailor  in  Breslau,  named  Schon,  who 
also  had  seen  the  satellites  of  Jupiter  with  the 
naked  eye.  No  examples  of  a  greater  range  of 
vision  are  known." — Pp.  179-1S1. 


HUNTING  FOR  INSECTS'  EGGS. 

XT  is  not  so  very  long  since,  when  scarcely  any- 
body, even  amongst  entomologists,  thought  of 
looking  after  the  eggs  of  insects.  Now  and  then 
it  would  happen  that  a  butterfly  or  moth  deposited 
these  in  the  collecting-box  or  on  the  setting-board ; 
and  then,  perhaps,  they  were  taken  care  of,  and  the 
young  progeny  fed  up ;  and  perhaps  not.  And  yet 
it  might  naturally  have  suggested  itself  to  the  in- 
quiring mind  of  the  collector,  that  by  sceuring  the 
eggs  of  the  species  desired,  good  specimens  could 
be  got  for  the  cabinet,  and  an  addition  made  to  the 
individual's  store  of  knowledge.  However,  an  im- 
petus has  of  late  been  given  to  larva-rearing,  and  in 
consequence  ofj  that  egg-hunting  has  become  a 
distinct  branch  of  the  various  pursuits  to!  which 
Lepidopterists  especially  have  devoted  themselves. 
There  is,  moreover,  this  advantage :  eggs,  unlike 
perfect  insects  or  caterpillars,  will  neither  fly  away 
nor  crawl  off,  but  will  give  the  collector  ample  time 
to  secure  them,  if  he  goes  at  the  right  time,  to  the 
right  place,  and  examines  the  right  plant. 

And  now,  too,  we  find  microscopists  putting  in 
their  claim  for  some  of  these  objects,  and  I  am  sure 
entomologists  will  not  complain ;  for  who  can  tell 
how  many  of  those  that  begin  by  studying  these 
eggs  only  on  account  of  their  colours  and  shapes, 
may,  after  awhile,  think  it  as  well  to  know  some- 
thing about  the  objects  which  come  out  of  them,  and 
thus  help  forward  insect-science  ? 

In  jotting  down  some  remarks  on  the  best  way 
of  going  to  work  (and  proceeding  in  the  work)  of 
finding  eggs  of  butterflies  and  moths,  I  must  dis- 
claim almost,  if  not  all,  merit  for  originality,  and 
acknowledge  myself  to  be  only  "a  gatherer  and 
disposer  of  other  men's  matters."  It  must  be  so  in 
natural  history,  and  the  sum  total  of  the  observa- 
tions of  the  many,  often  recorded  in  haste,  and  in 


very  varied  styles,  when  digested  and  arranged, 
furnish  a  bulk  of  lore,  which,  rightly  used,  facilitates 
the  labour  of  future  students  and  investigators:  the- 
past  enriches  the  present,  and  suggests  encourage- 
ment for  the  future. 

The  transformations  of  the  bulk,  even  of  our 
British  insects,  are  but  little  known  in  their  de- 
tails, the  chief  exception  being  the  order  Lepido- 
ptera,  which,  being  mostly  favoured  by  collectors, 
has  had  the  life-histories  of  its  species  traced  out 
in  many  instances,  the  egg  being  the  starting-point 
of  the  narrative.  Very  few  of  the  eggs  of  indivi- 
duals belonging  to  the  other  orders  have  been 
sought  out,  though  as  some  of  these  closely  simu- 
late those  of  certain  moths,  an  occasional  collector 
brings  home  what  he  supposes  to  be  a  choice  batch 
of  eggs,  from  which  he  sees  "in  vision"  the  young 
caterpillars  emerging  and  feeding  well,  and  lo !  the 
result  is  a  party  of  unpleasant  maggots,  or  else  the 
six-legged  larvae  of  some  beetle.  This,  however, 
would  be  of  little  consequence  to  the  microscopic 
observer,  whose  interest  centres  in  the  shell,  rather 
than  the  contents.  The  newly-hatched  larva,  though 
be  it  of  what  family  it  may,  will  be  discovered  also 
to  have  its  points  of  interest ;  but  its  preservation, 
Mrere  this  desired,  would  not  be  so  easy  as  that  of 
the  egg. 

No  apparatus  is  required  to  be  taken  by  the  egg- 
hunter,  unless,  indeed,  he  were  to  take  a  beating- 
net  or  umbrella,  in  which  to  beat  or  shake  the  trees 
and  plants ;  for  there  are  some  eggs  so  lightly  at- 
tached to  the  substance  on  which  they  are  laid  that 
a  jerk  will  bring  them  off;  but  this  procedure  need 
hardly  be  resorted  to,  not  being  very  advantageous. 
And  there  is  no  day  of  the  year  when  we  might  not 
go  out  with  at  least  the  probability  of  finding  some 
eggs,  though  on  a  sharp  winter's  morning,  when  we 
are  examining  trunks  of  trees,  boughs,  and  twigs, 
the  fingers  are  apt  to  get  so  cold  that  the  knife,  if 
needed  to  cut  the  eggs  off  or  out,  can  scarcely  be 
handled.  To  an  entomologist  with  a  liking  for  the 
dolce  far  niente,  in  the  glowing  heats  of  summer, 
such  a  comparatively  unenergetic  pursuit  may  have 
its  charms,  the  hands  need  not  to  be  tasked,  the 
eyes  being  called  upon  to  take  the  leading  part  in 
the  business.  Patience  certainly  has  to  be  exer- 
cised, both  at  the  time  of  searching,  and  thereafter, 
for  not  all  the  eggs  which  look  promising  will  by- 
and-by  yield  young  caterpillars  to  the  would-be 
breeder.  Two  causes,  beyond  the  collector's  con- 
trol, may  have  led  to  this  :  the  eggs  may  have  been 
unfertile  or  barren,  such  being  occasionally  depo- 
sited by  moths  in  a  state  of  nature;  or  they  may 
have  been  punctured  by  some  small  parasitic  insect. 
That  this  occurs  sometimes,  there  is  no  doubt ;  yet 
I  believe  the  "  ichneumouization "  of  eggs  is  less 
common  than  it  has  been  conjectured  to  be.  Eggs 
of  insects  are  rarely,  if  ever,  killed  by  heat,  cold,  or 
damp  when  left  untouched.     But  of  those  which,. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


33 


in  the  hands  of  the  entomologist,  fail  to  produce 
the  young  larvae,  many  are  destroyed  because  they 
have  been  placed  in  unfavourable  circumstances,  so 
that  the  germ  is  arrested  in  its  progress.  A  word 
more  upon  this  presently. 

As  a  general  rule,  each  mother  butterfly  or  moth 
seeks  out,  for  the  reception  of  her  eggs,  either  the 
appropriate  food  for  the  larvae  about  to  appear,  or 
at  least  a  spot  from  whence  they  can  very  easily 
reach  this  sustenance  which  is  so  indispensable. 
Hence,  as  the  food  of  caterpillars  is  so  very  various 
in  its  kind,  the  places  likely  to  yield  eggs  are  varied 
—in  feet,  they  may  turn  up  almost  auywhere  when 
we  are  out  in  the  open  country. 

Dr.  Knaggs  remarks  on  the  more  common  posi- 
tions, that  they  may  be  sought  "on  the  surface  and 
in  the  chinks  of  bark  (frequently  high  upon  the 
trunk  and  branches),  on  twigs,  buds,  leaves,  flowers, 
and  seeds  of  different  trees  and  plants ;  sometimes 
on  neighbouring  objects,  as  palings,  walls,  rocks, 
stones,  and  clods ;  at  others,  among  refuse  animal 
and  vegetable  matters ;  now  and  then  loosely  scat- 
tered upon  the  ground,  or  even  fixed  to  aquatic 
plants  beneath  the  surface  of  the  water." 

The  propensity  some  species  have  to  drop  their 
eggs  at  random  amongst  the  herbage,  either  while 
they  are  crawling  rapidly  up  and  down  bushes,  or 
threading  their  way  through  the  grass  blades,  or 
perhaps  careering  through  the  air  a  few  feet  above 
the  ground,  is  one  vexatious  to  the  entomologist, 
favourable  though  it  may  be  to  the  continuance  of 
the  particular  species.  As  examples  of  this,  I 
might  give  the  Marbled  White  amongst  butterflies, 
and  the  Oak  Egger  and  the  beautiful  Yellow  Under- 
wing  amongst  moths.  Thesedeposit  eggs  in  flight, and 
I  believe  a  good  number  of  the  species  belonging  to 
the  Nodiia  family  are  not  at  all  particular  as  to 
where  their  eggs  may  chance  to  fall,  the  larva:  being 
often  promiscuous  feeders  on  low  plants  when 
young.  Instinct,  too,  is  sometimes  at  fault  in  the 
parent,  and  I  have  found  the  eggs  of  the  Puss-moth 
more  than  once  on  lilac,  which  the  larva  rejects, 
and  those  of  the  Drinker,  a  grass-eating  caterpillar, 
adhering  to  a  bramble  stem.  Hence  a  beginner  is 
sometimes  puzzled  to  find  young  caterpillars  reject 
what  seems  to  be  their  right  food.  Moths,  also, 
under  the  influence  of  some  infatuation,  lay  eggs 
in  places  where  the  larvae  must  starve.  Gas-lamps 
aud  other  lights  are  attractive  to  moths,  and  about 
these  eggs  are  not  unfrequently  deposited.  I  have 
also  found  eggs  laid  on  palings  far  from  the  plant 
appropriate  to  the  larvae  of  the  species;  and  as  they 
rarely  travel  far  when  very  young  (or  if  they  do 
they  come  to  grief),  their  career  speedily  ends— only 
born  to  die. 

Some  moths,  why  we  cannot  tell,  seem  to 
have  a  fancy  for  laying  eggs  on  withered  leaves,  and 
I  have  noticed  these  sometimes  curled  up  ;  thus 
entombing  the  newly-hatched  larvae. 


More  eggs  will  certainly  be  found  on  leaves 
during  the  spring  and  summer  than  on  other  sub- 
stances, or  at  other  seasons  of  the  year.  Those 
thus  deposited  are  likely  to  hatch  speedily,  when 
as  microscopic  objects  they  cease  to  be  beautiful, 
usually.  The  eggs  which  remain  longest  unhatched 
are  laid  in  the  autumn  (a  few  even  in  winter),  and 
the  locale  most  frequently  is  the  bark  of  trees  or 
the  twigs  of  bushes  ;  sometimes  the  stems  of  low- 
growing  perennial  plants.  In  early  spring  many 
eggs  will  be  detected  on  or  close  to  the  buds. 
Generally,  when  we  are  searching  for  the  eggs  of  a 
species  which  deposits  them  on  leaves,  it  is  better 
to  examine  shrubs  than  trees,  and  those  growing 
solitary  rather  than  in  clumps.  Investigating  some 
plants  for  eggs  is  very  tedious  work ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, small-leaved  species,  like  those  of  the 
genus  Galium.  The  eye,  alter  a  time,  gets  fatigued 
and  dazzled.  So  frequently  do  we  iiud  that  the 
moths  select  the  under  surface  of  leaves,  that  it  has 
become  a  practice  with  some  collectors  not  to 
examine  the  upper  side  at  all.  The  llev.  J.  Greene 
thinks  that  the  genus  Bicrumua  is  almost  the  only 
exception  to  the  rule.  Some  others  do  not,  un- 
frequently, however,  deposit  eggs  on  the  upper 
surface ;  as,  for  instance,  certain  of  the  Hawk- 
moths  (Populi,  Ligustri,  &c.),  and  several  of  the 
Prominents.  A  reading-glass  or  hand-magnifier  has 
been  recommended  as  helpful  to  the  egg-hunter, 
especially  when  he  has  to  examine  leaves  under  a 
deficiency  of  light,  as  in  shady  parts  of  woods. 
Impatient  persons  may  not  like  to  be  told  that  one 
glance  at  a  leaf  or  any  object  is  rarely  successful, 
except  with  those  of  marvellous  quick  perceptions, 
of  whom  (no  doubt)  there  are  some  amongst  both 
microscopists  and  entomologists ;  but  it  would 
savour  of  flattery  to  give  that  character  to  the 
majority.  "  More  haste,  less  speed,"  holds  good 
here  ;  a  careful  examination  of  one  twig  will  yield 
more  results  than  a  cursory  glance  at  half  a  dozen. 
Many  eggs  are  very  much  the  colour  of  the  leaves 
or  substances  on  which  they  are  to  be  found,  and 
they  are  often  appressed  very  flatly  to  the  surface ; 
as,  for  instance,  those  of  the  Brimstone  Butterfly 
and  the  Herald  Moth :  on  or  alongside  of  the 
midrib  is  a  favourite  position ;  though  some  female 
moths  show  a  manifest  preference  for  the  margins. 

The  searcher  must  always  keep  in  mind  that  eggs 
are  occasionally  very  imperfectly  attached  by  gum, 
and  an  agitation  given  to  their  resting-place  may 
send  them  off,  when  a  hunt  for  them  will  be  only  a 
loss  of  time,  if  they  descend  into  the  grass  or 
herbage ;  as  bad,  in  fact,  as  "  looking  for  a  needle 
in  a  bottle  of  hay."  The  easiest  eggs  to  find  are 
those  which  are  deposited  by  the  parent  insects  in 
clusters,  as  those  of  the  Cabbage  and  Tortoiseshell 
Butterflies ;  or  amongst  the  Moths,  those  of  such 
species  as  the  Lackey,  the  Gold-tail,  the  Tigers,  the 
Yapourers,  and  some  of  the  Geometers.    Mr.  New- 


34 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


man  speaks  highly  of  another  mode  of  getting  eggs, 
viz.,  by  watching  the  females  while  thus  engaged, 
and  then  "securing  the  product."  I  have  not 
succeeded  at  this,  but  others  may ;  it  has  disadvan- 
tages, for  at  such  times  insects  endeavour  to  avoid 
observation,  and  dodging  them  about  is  tedious  and 
disappointing  work.  It  is  at  night,  too,  that  most 
moths  provide  for  the  continuance  of  the  species, 
when  they  may  easily  escape  our  notice,  even  if  we 
are  armed  with  the  latest  improved  lantern.  So, 
perhaps,  the  best  way  is,  if  we  see  a  butterfly  or 
moth  we  think  thus  intent,  to  capture  it,  and  give 
it  an  opportunity  to  lay  in  confinement,  which, 
however,  some  are  very  reluctant  to  do. 

How  should  we  keep  eggs  if  we  wish  to  obtain 
larvae  from  them?  We  must  have  regard  to  the 
natural  influences  to  which  they  would  have  been 
exposed,  and  imitate  these^as  nearly  as  we  can.  As 
a  rule,  they  should  be  kept  cool,  and  if  a  leaf  on 
which  any  are  deposited  dries  up,  it  is  better  to 
remove  them  from  it.  Some  advise  laying  them  upon 
a  pad  of  moss  taken  from  an  old  wall ;  and  this 
being  placed  in  a  flowerpot,  the  eggs  may  be  kept 
slightly  damp,  which  is  conducive  to  their  welfare. 
But  if  the  contents  of  the  eggs  are  not  wished  for, 
Ingpen  advises  that  they  should  be  punctured  with 
a  fine  needle;  then,  says  he,  they  will  dry  without 
shrivelling— sometimes.  Boiling  them  has  been 
found  of  no  use ;  nor  should  I  imagine  that  baking 
them  would  prove  much  more  advantageous. 
Swammerdam,  we  are  told,  after  he  had  emptied 
the  shells,  used  to  inflate  them  with  air,  or  fill  them 
with  some  resinous  solution. 

The  hunter  after  the  eggs  of  Lepidoptera  may 
well  be  stimulated  by  recent  discoveries  in  that 
direction.  Think  of  Mr.  Merrin  detecting  the  eggs 
of  one  of  our  rarest  Blues  {Lycana  Arion)  on  the 
flowers  of  the  wild  thyme !  These  were  highly 
curious  in  form,  being  spheroid,  and  marked  with 
shallow  cells,  the  divisions  between  the  cells  bear- 
ing spine-like  processes ;  the  texture  and  colour,  we 
are  informed,  resembling  white  porcelain  tinged  with 
green.  And  through  researches  made  in  the  winter 
months,  it  has  now  been  demonstrated  that  the 
Hairstreak  Butterflies  place  their  eggs  on  the  twigs 
or  branches  of  their  food-plants,  to  await  the  advent 
of  the  following  spring,  completely  overturning  the 
theories  previously  entertained  about  their  history. 
So  we  may  hope  that,  as  egg-hunters  increase,  not 
only  will  new  and  beautiful  objects  be  brought  into 
view,  but  many  misapprehensions  be  also  removed 
which  have  obscured  the  annals  of  Entomology. 

J.  B.  S.  Clifford. 


0  happy  Kingfisher !  what  care  can  he  know, 
By  the  clear,  pleasant  streams,  as  he  skims  to  aud  fro, 
Now  lost  in  the  shadow,  now  bright  in  the  sheen 
Of  the  hot  summer  sun,  glancing  scarlet  and  green. 

Mary  Howitt. 


TITMICE. 

f\F  all  the  small  birds  that  ornament  our  forest, 
^  few  are  more  hardy,  more  agile,  or  more  or- 
namental than  the  family  of  Titmice. 

The  Long-tailed  Titmouse,  Blue  Titmouse,  and 
Great  Titmouse,  are  all  very  beautiful  little  crea- 
tures; not  only  beautiful  in  plumage,  but  on  the 
wing,  creeping  along  a  bough,  or  clinging  to  the 
bark  of  a  tree,  they  are  equally  interesting,  now 
flying  with  a  jerk  and  wave-like  motion  from  tree 
to  tree,  now  at  the  root  of  a  tree  in  quest  of  food, 
or  suspended  from  the  end  of  a  branch;  indeed, 
they  are  always  doing  something.  They  are  curious 
little  creatures,  and  although  fond  of  the  wood, 
they  are  in  no  way  shy  or  timid  at  the  approach  of 
man. 

The  Long-tailed  Titmouse  (Panes  caudatus)  has 
a  very  long  tail ;  it  flies  with  a  peculiar  wave-like 
motion ;  when  on  the  wing,  the  tail  seems  much 
longer  than  at  other  times:  it  is  a  very  curious- 
looking  little  bird.  In  weight  it  scarcely  out- 
weighs the  Wren ;  but  it  is  when  in  the  hand  that 
you  admire  and  wonder  at  the  power  of  this  little 
creature,  so  small  it  seems  that  you  cannot  hold  it 
without  hurting  it ;  with  loose  and  silk-like  flossy 
feathers  that  cannot  be  handled  without  getting 
the  feathers  much  out  of  place. 

Although  so  fragile,  it  builds  a  very  pretty  nest, 
and  brings  up  a  number  of  young:  they  remain 
with  us  all  the  winter;  their  food  is  small  insects 
and  larva?.  The  colour  of  this  bird  is  a  mixture  of 
dusky  olive,  with  dark  and  light  brown;  the  bill  is 
very  small;  indeed,  a  few  disconcerted  feathers  will 
cover  it.  I  tried  to  keep  this  bird  in  an  aviary,  but 
did  not  succeed.  The  Long -tailed  Tit  has  not  any 
song,  only  a  plaintive  twitter  or  call. 

The  Blue  Titmouse  (Parus  cceruleus)  is  a  merry, 
sprightly,  active  little  fellow.  It  seems  but  little 
consequence  to  him  whether  in  a  cage,  an  aviary,  or 
in  the  wood ;  if  well  cared  for,  he  appears  quite  con- 
tent. I  should  here  mention,  much  of  this  depends 
upon  the  immediate  care  he  gets.  Soon  after  being 
taken,  he  must  be  fed  frequently  upon  small  meal- 
worms ;  for  a  short  time  he  should  also  have  groats, 
suet,  and  hemp-seed.  The  Blue  Tit  requires  a  large 
close  wire  cage,  as  it  mostly  gets  through  the  wires 
of  an  ordinary  one.  Much  depends  upon  the  first 
few  hours'  care ;  if  neglected  when  taken,  you  can- 
not keep  your  Blue  Tit  alive.  In  an  aviary  the 
Blue  Tit  is  quite  at  home,  quite  cheerful ;  aud  in  a 
few  days  will  begin  to  twitter :  after  a  few  days 
you  may  dispense  with  live  food  altogether,  but  as 
a  substitute  you  should  give  a  little  sop  bread  and 
milk,  and  occasionally  the  Woodlark's  meat.  The 
colours  of  this  lively  little  creature  are  very  strik- 
ing; the  top  of  the  head,  or  crest,  and  round  the 
neck  a  beautiful  blue,  the  sides  of  the  head  white, 
with  a  black  line  from  the  base  of  the  bill  to  beyond 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


.)0 


the  eye ;  the  tail  and  long  or  flight-feathers  of  the 
wing  blue,  the  breast  and  under-part  a  dingy  yellow; 
bill  and  legs  of  a  pale  blue.  The  Blue  Tit  has  a 
sprightly  note,  but  cannot  be  considered  a  songster. 

The  Cole  Tit  (Panis  ater)  is  about  the  size  of  the 
Blue  Tit,  but  has  not  such  a  beautiful  plumage ;  it 
has  a  black  cap;  the  general  tone  of  the  birds  is  an 
olive-brown,  with  a  few  white  spots  upon  the  ends 
of  some  few  feathers ;  it  has  a  sharp  black  beak, 
legs  and  claws  exceedingly  strong.  If  this  bird  is 
put  in  a  cage  with  the  Blue  Tit,  a  battle  ensues,  in 
which  the  latter  gets  beaten,  and  if  it  succeeds  in 
getting  the  Blue  Tit  in  its  claws,  as  is  often  the 
case,  it  will  pluck  the  feathers  out  most  unmerci- 
fully. The  Cole  Tit  should  be  fed  the  same  as  the 
Blue  Tit,  but  they  are  not  so  cheerful  as  that  bird, 
nor  so  easily  kept  alive. 

The  Great  Titmouse  (Parus  major)  is  a  bold- 
looking  bird,  and  very  pugnacious.  It  is  not  safe 
to  place  him  in  a  cage  with  other  birds ;  he  mostly 
kills  any  bird  about  his  own  size.  I  have  seen  the 
Great  Tit  seize  a  robin  in  its  claws,  and  in  a  few 
seconds  pick  the  poor  creature's  brains  out.  How 
different  to  the  little  Blue  Tit,  that  rarely  quarrels 
with  any  bird.  Yet  for  all  its  cruel  propensities, 
how  pleasant  to  find  them  in  small  parties  acrobat- 
ing  in  our  suburban  gardens  round  London,  as  it 
frequently  does  in  hard  weather,  chattering  merrily. 
This  bird  has  a  peculiar  and  amusing  method  in 
feeding  upon  hemp-seed,  making  a  quick  tap,  tap, 
tap,  much  like  an  undertaker  hammers,  until  a  hole 
is  made,  from  which  it  eats  the  seed,  casting  away 
the  shell  apparently  unbroken.  It  will  feed  upon 
German  paste,  as  prepared  for  a  woodlark,  and  dis- 
pose of  mealworms  most  greedily.  The  Great  Tit 
has  a  beautiful  black  cap,  back  and  wings  of  a 
greyish  green,  the  sides  of  the  head,  breast,  and 
underpart  of  a  dusky  yellow  ;  it  has  great  strength 
in  the  feet  and  bill,  and  if  handled  darts  upon  the 
fingers  and  bites  severely.  The  Great  Tit  has  a 
sprightly  wild  song,  which  it  mostly  utters  as  soon 
as  it  alights.  The  Blue  Tit,  Cole  Tit,  and  Great 
Tit,  all  tap  with  their  bill  when  feeding  upon  hemp- 
seed,  after  the  manner  of  the  Woodpecker. 

Chas.  J.  W.  Rtjdd. 


UNDEB  A  STONE. 

THEBE  is  some  consolation  for  those  who  make 
the  micro  scope  their  hobby,  that  they  are 
very  much  independent  of  times  and  seasons ;  come 
snow,  come  blow,  there  is  still  occupation  within 
doors  in  spite  of  wind  and  weather.  The  angler 
may  be  disconsolate,  the  botanist  devoured  by 
ennui,  the  entomologist  a  victim  to  despair;  but 
with  the  microscope  poor  human  nature  is  consoled 
for  the  loss  of  out-door  pleasures.  Alas,  poor 
human  nature !    How  often  the  weather  comes  in 


for  blame  when  some  trip  to  the  woods  has  been 
postponed  indefinitely,  because  of  the  rain — 

"When  it  clatters  along  the  roofs, 
Like  the  tramp  of  hoofs  ! 
When  it  gushes  and  struggles  out 
From  the  throat  of  the  overflowing  spout  ! 
Across  the  window  pane 
It  pours  and  pours  ; 
And  swift  and  wide, 
With  a  muddy  tide, 
Like  a  river  down  the  gutter  roars 
The  rain,  unwelcome  rain." 

This  however  may  be  bearable,  for  the  morrow 
may  be  bright,  or,  at  least,  there  is  hope  of  a  finer 
day  within  a  week ;  but  the  summer  grumbler  is 
happy  compared  with  a  naturalist  "snowed  up." 
What  a  gush  of  unpleasurable  sensations  tingles 
down  to  the  tips  of  one's  fingers  at  the  thought  of 
a  month's  frost  and  snow.  Suppose  that  we  had 
been  planning  sundry  explorations  during  the 
Christmas  holidays,  in  the  fond  hope  that  a  "  green 
Christmas"  would  again,  as  it  had  done  before, 
favour  the  out-door  collector  of  Nature's  uncon- 
sidered trifles.  And  then  suppose  such  a  Christ- 
mas as  this  last  one  to  throw  a  snow  blanket  over 
the  earth  and  our  projects.  Grumble,  should  we  ? 
Well,  perhaps  we  might,  and  not  much  to  our 
credit  either.  History  has  narrated  to  us  of 
prisoners  in  their  cells  finding  contentment  and 
companionship  in  a  mouse,  a  spider,  or  a  flower. 
Doubtless  he  who  can  accept  all  such  events  with 
resignation,  with  no  disposition  to  grumble,  ,but 
every  disposition  to  turn  the  most  untoward  circum- 
stances to  advantage,  is  the  happier  man. 

Those  who  are  blessed  with  vigorous  health  do 
not  realize  the  pleasure  which  an  invalid  finds  in  a 
little  plot  of  garden  ground ;  to  him  it  is  all  the 
outside  world.  In  it  he  will  discover  treasures 
scarce  dreamt  of  by  those  who  have  the  world 
before  them  wherein  to  roam.  A  little  garden  to  an 
invalid,  and  what  he  saw  and  observed  in  it  during 
a  whole  year !  What  a  subject  for  a  book,  and  how 
many  interesting  chapters  might  such  an  invalid 
contribute  by  the  help  of  a  microscope.  Some 
months  ago,  during  conversation  with  a  friend  on 
"subjects  to  write  about,"  he  suggested,  "insects 
found  under  a  stone."  At  the  time  this  was  acknow- 
ledged a  capital  idea,  and — not  the  first  time  such  a 
thing  has  happened — no  more  was  thought  about  it. 
Becently  confined  to  the  limits  of  a  garden,  and 
at  no  very  cheerful  season, — just  before  the  snow 
set  in — this  incident  was  revived  by  the  sight  of  a 
large  stone,  and  immediately  the  thought  "  I  won- 
der what  is  under  it  ?  "  came  like  a  flash  across  the 
mind.  The  answer  to  this  question  is  just  what  I 
am  seated  to  write,  and  if  there  was  not  much 
found  under  the  stone  at  such  a  season  the  observer 
is  not  to  blame,  and  the  stone  is  not  to  blame,  and 
certainly  not  the  insects  that  were  absent.  They 
were  wise,  for  it  was  very,  very  cold. 


36 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Turning  over  the  stone,  the  first  and  most  active 
creature  under  it  was  a  spider,  who  speedily  made 
up  his  mind  to  escape  if  possible.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  if  you  will  turn 
over  a  good-sized  stone,  the  first,  and  often  the 
only  living  creature  seen  there  will  be  a  spider.  If 
there  is  any  desire  on  the  part  of  the  observer  to 
capture  it,  the  second  fact  discovered  will  be  that 
spiders  are  very  active,  and  rather  cunning.  Some 
people  are  under  the  impression  that  if  we  have  a 
dozen  species  of  spiders  in  Britain,  we  have  no  more. 
There  is  the  House  Spider,  and  the  Garden  Spider, 
und  the  Money-spinner,  and  the  Water  Spider,  and 
— perhaps  they  know  no  more.  But  the  fact  is, 
that  some  hundreds  of  spiders  arc  described  in 
Mr.  Blackwall's  splendid  book,  and  it  is  very  pro- 
bable that  it  does  not  contain  more  than  half,  the 
different  species  which  inhabit  our  islands.  This 
little  spider  is  not  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long,  but  it 


Mi 

Fig.  16.  Walckenaera  cri&tata. 

Las  a  very  long  name— it  is  Walckenaera  cristata. 
The  figure  is  magnified  (fig.  Ifi),  and  gives  some 
idea  of  the  appearance  of  this  active  little  gentle- 
man, for  fortunately  it  was  of  the  male  sex.  Some 
people  never  look  upon  a  spider  except  with  feelings 
of  disgust.  Ladies  of  delicate  sensibilities  have 
been  known  to  faint  at  the  sight  of  one.  Perhaps 
this  might  be  accounted  for  if  Ovid's  story  were 
true  that  a  very  clever  lady  was  once  transformed 
into  a  spider.  Arachne,  excellently  skilled  at  the 
loom,  had  the  presumption  to  challenge  Minerva, 
and,  being  defeated,  hung  herself  in  despair ;  the 
goddess,  moved  by  pity,  transformed  her  into  a 
spider. 

"  Her  usual  features  vanished  from  tlieir  place, 
Her  body  lessened  all,  but  most  her  face  : 
Her  slender  fingers,  hanging  on  each  side, 
With  many  joints,  the  use  of  legs  supplied  ; 
A  spider's  bag  the  rest,  from  which  she  gives 
A  thread,  and  still  by  constant  weaving  lives." 

In  memory  of  this  unfortunate  lady  the  whole 
order  of  spiders  are  named  Arachn'uhe,  a  graceful 
tribute  to  skill  and  industry.  The  eight  eyes  and 
absence  of  vocal  powers  are  not  accounted  for  in 
this  story;  the  transformation  must  have  been  a 
wonderful  one. 

The  great  variety  in  the  arrangement  of  these 
eight  eyes  in  the  different  genera  of  spiders  is 
worthy  of  observation.  In  Walckenaera  the  front 
part  of  the  cephalo-thorax  is  usually  elevated  into 
a  kind  of  hump,  and  four  eyes  are  placed  about  it 


in  the  form  of  a  trapezoid  or  small  square  (fig.  17  a) ; 
then  on  either  side  is  another  pair,  placed  one  above 
another,  and  close  together.  The  eyes  of  each  pair 
placed  at  the  side,  in  the  little  specimen  found 
under  a  stone,  are  the  largest.  The  general  colour 
is  brownish- black,  the  legs  reddish-brown,  and  the 
abdomen  is  hairy.  It  would  be  easy  enough  to 
occupy  a  column  in  describing  all  the  parts  of  this 
interesting  little  creature,  but,  having  no  such  in- 
tention, I  shall  at  once  confine  myself  to  those 
organs  which,  in  their  complex  development, 
characterize  the  male,  and  on  which  microscopists 
are  invited  to  employ  their  instruments  if  they 
desire  a  fresh  field  for  observation. 


Fig.  I",  a.  Profile  i  f  cephalo-thorax  of  Walckenaera,  with 
eyes  ;  b,  front  view  of  palpus  ;  c,  back  view  of  palpus. 

Notice  particularly  in  this,  and  all  male  spiders, 
a  pair  of  clubbed  organs,  something  like  antenna;, 
which  project  in  front,  and  are  often  curved  down- 
wards.   These  are  the  palpi.    Probably  their  pur- 


Fig.  18.  Palpus  of  Walckcneara  displayed. 


pose  is  allied  to  that  of  the  highly-developed  an- 
tenna; in  most  of  the  Anoplcura,  and  some  of  the 
Entomostraca.  As  seen  in  the  living  animal  (we 
are  forbidden  to  call  spiders  insects),  the  palpi  are 
more  or  less  clubs  (fig.  17),  but  when  prepared  and 
flattened  out,  the  parts  are  separated,  and  though 
no  longer  resembling  in  form  what  they  were  in 
their  natural  situation,  and  condition,  they  can  be 
more  readily  studied,  and  their  very  complex  cha- 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


37 


racter  observed.  In  order  that  this  structure  may- 
be compared  in  different  genera,  I  have  given 
figures  of  three.  Eig.  IS  is  taken  from  Walchen- 
aera  cristata ;  fig.  19  is  from  a  larger  spider 
closely  allied,  called  Linyphia  confusa  ;  and  fig.  20 
from  Ciniflo  similis,  both  taken  at  other  times, 
skulking  in  a  similar  manner  under  stones.     The 


Fig.  ig.  Palpus  of  Linyphia.  confusa. 

figures  are  drawn  from  specimens  mounted  in  bal" 
earn,  flattened  out  so  as  to  exhibit  structure  by 


Fig.  20.  Palpus  of  Ciniflo  similis. 

uncoiling  the  upper  portion,  which  naturally  is 
coiled  up  compactly  like  a  watch-spring.  The  pro- 
jecting hooks  and  processes  are  very  curious.    In- 


dustrious microscopist,  with  little  to  do,  and  want- 
ing occupation,  here  is  good  work  for  you  !  Study 
a  spider  well,  and  then  write  a  monograph,  as  has 
already  been  done  for  the  House-fly. 

With  an  anecdote  of  spiders  as  teachers,  taken 
from  the  Quarterly  Review  of  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago,  I  shall  leave  them  to  the  better  consideration 
of  my  readers.  Quatremer  Disjonval,  a  Frenchman 
by  birth,  was  an  adjutant-general  in  Holland,  and 
took  an  active  part  on  the  side  of  the  Dutch  patriots 
when  they  revolted  against  the  Stadtholder.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  Prussian  army  under  the  command 
of  the  Duke  of  Brunswick,  he  was  immediately  taken, 
tried,  and  having  been  condemned  to  twenty-five 
years'  imprisonment,  was  incarcerated  in  a  dungeon 
at  Utrecht,  where  he  remained  eight  years.  During 
this  long  confinement,  by  many  curious  observations 
upon  his  sole  companions,  spiders,  he  discovered 
that  they  were  in  the  highest  degree  sensitive  of 
approaching  changes  in  the  atmosphere,  and  that 
their  retirement  and  reappearance,  their  weav- 
ing and  general  habits  were  intimately  connected 
with  the  changes  of  the  weather.  In  the  reading  of 
these  living  barometers  he  became  wonderfully 
accurate,  so  much  so,  that  he  could  prognosticate 
the  approach  of  severe  weather  from  ten  to  fourteen 
days  before  it  set  in,  which  is  proven  by  the  follow- 
ing remarkable  fact  which  led  to  his  release.  When 
the  troops  of  the  French  republic  overran  Holland 
in  the  winter  of  the  year  1791,  and  kept  pushing 
forward  over  the  ice,  a  sudden  and  unexpected  thaw 
in  the  early  part  of  December  threatened  the  de- 
struction of  the  whole  army  unless  it  was  instantly 
withdrawn.  The  French  generals  were  thinking 
seriously  of  accepting  a  sum  offered  by  the  Dutch, 
'and  withdrawing  their  troops,  when  Disjonval,  who 
hoped  that  the  success  of  the  republican  army  might 
lead  to  his  release,  used  every  exertion,  and  at 
length  succeeded  in  getting  a  letter  conveyed  to  the 
French  general  in  1795,  in  which  he  pledged  himself, 
from  the  peculiar  actions  of  the  spiders,  of  whose 
movements  he  was  enabled  to  judge  with  perfect 
accuracy,  that  within  fourteen  days  there  would 
commence  a  most  severe  frost,  which  would  make 
the  French  masters  of  all  the  rivers,  and  afford  them 
sufficient  time  to  complete  and  make  sure  of  the 
conquest  they  had  commenced  before  it  should  be 
followed  by  a  thaw.  The  commander  of  the  French 
forces  believed  his  prognostication  and  persevered. 
The  cold  weather  which  Disjonval  had  predicted 
made  its  appearance  in  twelve  days,  and  with  such 
intensity  that  the  ice  over  the  rivers  and  canals 
became  capable  of  bearing  the  heaviest  artillery.  On 
the  2Sth  of  January,  1795,  the  French  army  entered 
Utrecht  in  triumph  ;  and  Quatremer  Disjonval,  who 
had  watched  the  habits  of  his  spiders  with  so  much 
intelligence  and  success,  was  as  a  reward  for  his  in- 
genuity, released  from  prison. 

Another  creature  coiled    up  under   the  stone, 


33 


HA-RDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


motionless,  was  lulus  terrestris  —  a  worm  -  like 
fellow,  little  more  than  an  inch  in  length,  almost  as 
round  as  a  piece  of  wire,  covered  with  plated 
armour,  like  a  coat  of  mail.  There  he  lay  coiled 
round  into  a  disc  the  size  of  a  waistcoat-button, 
with  his  numerous  short  legs  visible  like  a  fringe 
throughout  his  entire  length.  It  required  some 
little  effort  to  get  him  uncoiled,  and  extended  at 
full  length.  I  must  confess  that  there  was  not 
much  about  him  that  was  attractive,  but  under  the 
circumstances  any  living  thing  had  its  interest. 
And  even  awlulus  is  not  without  interest  of  its  own, 
for  the  appearance  of  this  coiled-up  creature,  seem- 
ingly deficient  of  life  or  energy,  was  sufficient  to 


Sn\- 


'''iiiwtnm 


Fig.  21.  lulus  terrestris. 

remind  one  that,  once  upon  a  time,  a  very  Clevel- 
and industrious  American  doctor  (Dr.  Leidy)  dis- 
sected I  cannot  tell  how  many  scores  of  these  crea- 
tures, and  explored  the  mysteries  of  their  internal 
economy.  The  result  was  the  publication  of  a 
memoir,  in  quarto,  with  several  plates,  entitled  "  A 
Flora  and  Eauna  within  Living  Animals."  Dr.  Leidy 
found  several  species  of  minute  parasitic  plants,  of 
a  fungoid  or  algal  character,  and  some  parasitic 
animals  of  low  organization,  living  and  flourishing 
Avithin  the  large  intestine  of  lulus  marginatus.  Pro- 
bably these,  or  similar  organisms,  are  to  be  found  in 
lulus  terrestris.  This  very  individual  from  under  a 
stone  may  have  a  flora  and  fauna  within  its  intes- 
tinal canal. 

"W  hen  the  lulus  does  move,  and  does  put  all  his 
long  line  of  short  legs  on  each  side  of  his  body  into 
motion,  what  an  exhibition  he  makes  of  himself ! 
It  seems  useless  to  think  of  counting  them.  In 
some  country  places  he  is  called  "  forty-foot,"  but 
that  is  quite  a  misnomer,  for  he  seems  certainly  to 
have  double  that  number  on  one  side.  This  is  one 
of  the  Myriapods  not  generally  classed  with  insects, 
although  some  recent  authors  have  ventured  to 
associate  them  therewith.  Dr.  Packard  has  done 
so:  he  may  be  right,  we  do  not  care  to  judge.  This 
is  what  he  says  about  lulus.    It  is  long,  cylindrical, 


hard,  with  numerous  feet,  short  and  weak,  attached 
to  the  under  surface  of  the  body,  nearly  in  the 
middle  of  the  abdomen.  The  antennae  are  short 
and  filiform.  They  crawl  rather  slowly,  and  at  rest 
curve  the  body  into  a  ring.  They  live  on  vegetable 
substances,  or  eat  dead  earthworms  or  snails.  Iu 
the  spring  the  female  deposits  her  eggs  in  masses 
of  sixty  or  seventy,  in  a  hole  excavated  for  the  pur- 
pose under  the  ground :  after  three  weeks  or  more 
the  young  make  their  appearance.  A  great  deal 
more  he  says  about  them,  but  as  my  space  is  nearly 
filled  up,  I  must  take  another  peep  under  the  stone, 
and  have  done. 

There  they  go !  one,  two,  three,— at  least  a  dozen, 
some  running  hither  and  thither,  others  rolled  up 
like  a  ball.  In  school-boy  days  we  called  them 
"old  sows,"  in  Scotland  I  think  they  are  called 
"  slaters,"  but  the  gardener  knows  them  as  wood- 
lice,  and  to  him  they  are  much  better  known  than 
loved.  Pass  them  by,  and  let  them  rest  in  peace ; 
we  shall  always  be  able  to  find  them,  therefore  let 
them  alone  until  a  more  convenient  season.  They 
are  not  insects  either,  for  they  belong  to  the  Crus- 
tacea, and  are  much  nearer  akin  to  crabs  and  lobsters 
than  to  beetles  and  butterflies. 

"Insects  found  under  a  stone"!  After  all,  my 
young  readers  will  say,  what  a  misnomer,  since  none 
of  them  are  insects,  at  least  according  to  English 
authorities,  neither  the  spider,  nor  lulus,  nor  wood- 
lice — only  some  little  creatures  that  are  skipping 
about  like  fleas — they  are  insects.  Click,  click,  how 
they  leap  !  Surely  they  must  have  a  spring  under 
their  tails.  "  Springtails  "  they  are  well  called,  and 
these  are  very  like  Macrotoma  plumbed.  By  means 
of  the  spring-like  process  situated  at  the  end  of  the 
body,  where  the  tail  ought  to  be,  and  which  is 
tucked  under  them,  they  can  take  prodigious  leaps. 

Some  are  lead-coloured,  others  are  violet,  with  a 
pinkish  tinge,  and  others  paler  still,  according  to 
age.  Turn  back  the  stone  !  All  who  desire  to  know 
anything  about  "  Springtails "  have  only  to  turn 
back  to  Science-Gossip  for  1867,  and,  at  page  53, 
read  what  Mr.  S.  J.  Mclntire  has  so  well  written 
about  them. 

The  trip  into  the  garden  did  not  furnish  me  this 
time  with  any  but  the  commonest  objects;  just 
what  anybody  would  find,  at  almost  any  time,  by 
turning  over  a  big  stone.  To  a  certain  extent  I 
was  disappointed,  but  on  further  consideration  I 
am  satisfied  on  one  point,  that  common  as  were  the 
little  creatures  I  met  with,  there  is,  after  all,  a 
very  great  deal  about  them  that  I  don't  know;  and 
this  resolution,  as  a  consequence  has  followed,  that 
I  fully  intend  to  make  their  acquaintance  again. 
AVe  are  all  of  us  very  apt  to  despise  common 
things,  just  because  they  are  common,  and  for  that 
reason  know  very  little  about  them. 

"  A  poor  brotherhood  who  walk  the  earth 
Pitied,  and,  where  they  are  not  known,  despised." 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


39 


THE  LOVE  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY. 

AYERY  readable,  instructive  little  book,  I  be- 
.  lieve,  lias  been  written,  entitled  "Eyes  and 
No  Eyes."  I  write  the  words,  "  I  believe,"  because 
I  have  never  met  with  the  work  myself;  but  a  friend 
of  mine  was  quoting  it  to  a  young  lady,  not  long 
since,  and  her  remarks  recalled  to  my  mind  bow 
often  it  had  been  my  lot  to. meet  with  the  mental 
blindness  in  regard  to  Nature  and  the  startlingly- 
beautiful  objects  that  she  every  day,  and  in  every 
place,  presents  to  the  thinking,  appreciative  soul, 
which  " No  eyes"  is  intended  to  typify. 

The  Bruce,  in  his  lonely  cell,  had  "  eyes  "  for  the 
spider.  Men  of  fashion,  and  women  of  society,  both 
educated  specimens  of  humanity  in  their  way,  have 
often  need  of  powerful  glasses  ere  they  can  discover 
any  beauty  in  natural  objects.  Even  those  mem- 
bers of  the  Great  Eamily  who  are,  from  their  voca- 
tion, supposed  to  teach  others,  while  preaching 
sermons  to  their  fellow-mortals  on  the  truths  of  the 
written  Book,  are  frequently  unable  to  draw  atten- 
tion to  the  vast  wonders  and  evidences  displayed 
by  the  meanest  form  of  creation,  in  the  grand 
Library  of  Nature,  thrown  open  to  all  who  have 
"eyes." 

How  is  this  ?  Is  it  that  we  require  to  be  speci- 
ally educated  to  love  and  understand  Nature,  as  we 
do  ere  we  can  appreciate  'Art  ?  Must  the  bodily 
eye  be  tutored?  or  is  the  defect  in  the  mental 
vision?  I  am  disposed  to  think  the  root  of  the 
evil  lies  in  the  mind,  and  the  love  of  Natural  History 
should,  to  give  pleasure,  be  really  instinctive, 
although  a  knowledge  of  it  can  be  obtained,  and  a 
certain  amount  of  taste  acquired,  by  culture. 

But  I  am  getting  out  of  my  depth.  I  sat  down 
to  gossip,  just  to  relate  some  of  the  amusing  errors 
a  lack  of  natural-history  knowledge  occasionally 
leads  folks  into. 

A  sort  of  Bardic  meeting — Eisteddfords  they  are 
called  in  Wales— was  got  up,  not  very  long  since,, 
at  a  small  Welsh  town ;  indeed,  it  was  more  of  a 
Penny  Reading  than  an  Eisteddford;  and  people 
were  invited  to  write  on  given  subjects,  and  judges 
appointed  to  decide  on  the  merits  of  the  varied 
papers. 

One  of  the  subjects  was  the  "  Sea-shore  ; "  and 
doubtless  the  person  or  personages  who  suggested 
such  a  field  fully  understood  the  ground — were  pre- 
pared, in  fact,  for  a  description  of  the  ocean  wonders  to 
be  met  with  in  a  walk  on  the  beach.  Not  so,  I  fancy, 
the  judge.  I  draw  my  conclusions  from  the  remarks 
he  made.  He  evidently  considered  animal  marine 
life — the  lower  grades  of  it — a  very  contracted  and 
poor  matter  to  waste  words  on — sponges  and  sea- 
anemones  far  too  insignificant  to  be  written  about. 
What  added  to  the  absurdity  of  the  business 
was  this— the  individual  who  repeated  the  judge's 
remarks    pronounced   the  word    "  sponges "  like 


"  spoon "  with  g-e-s  as  a  tail  to  it ;  and  endowed 
anemones  with  an  unorthodox  number  of  the  second 
vowel  in  the  English  language— thus :  "a-nee-mo- 
nees."  The  writer  of  the  paper  in  question  sat  right 
in  front  of  the  critic,  listening  with  undisguised  fun 
to  his  would-be  profound  observations,  whilst  he — 
poor  miserable  mortal,  unconscious  of  the  author's 
presence — proceeded  ex  cathedra  to  denounce  the 
meagreness  of  the  topic. 

Imaginary: conversation,  of  course,  next  morn- 
ing :— 

Miss  F.— "  Do  you  really  mean  to  say,  dear  Mr. 
G.,  that  one  of  the  papers  was  all  about  sponges  and 
those  flowers  ?  Where  could  any  one  find  a  sponge 
here?  and  as  to  anemones,  why  it  is  quite  ridi- 
culous :  they  could  not  grow  in  the  sand ;  I  put  a 
barrowful  of  manure  with  mine  last  year." 

"  Oh,  Aunt,"  exclaimed  a  youthful  voice,  "  sea- 
anemones  are  what  Mr.  G.  alluded  to." 

"  Well,  child,  never  mind  ;  I  want  Mr.  G.  to  an- 
swer my  question ;  not  you." 

"  Yes,  Miss  F.,  I  may  say  the  paper  was  all  about 
such  meagre,  paltry  matters,  with  just  a  little  re- 
specting crabs,  star-fish,  and  such-like  stuff." 

"Well,  to  be  sure,  now;  when  so  much  might 
have  been  written  about  our  shore.  There  is  that 
fine  new  te.  i  ice  just  facing  the  sea,  you  know ;  and 

a  club  in  L have  taken  a  building  lease  of  the 

ground  below,  to  build  baths ;  and  now  I  think  of  it, 
a  few  lines  might  have,  been  put  in  about  the  good 
pickle  Mr.  Williams  makes  of  the  samphire  he  finds 
on  the  rocks  here.  Aud  then  there  are  the  pier,  and 
the  steamers,  and  the  heaps  of  provisions  brought 
here  in  the  season,  and  the  loads  of  geese  we 
send  off " 

"And  the  surplus  stock  you  keep,  Aunt,"  inter- 
rupted the  niece. 

"Let  me  speak,  child  ;  I  want  to  tell  Mr.  G.  how 
I  should  have  treated  the  subject,  instead  of  writing 
about  crabs  and  such-like  ugly  things." 

"  But,  Aunt,  the  notice  never  specified  it  was  this 
particular  strip  of  sea-shore,  just  this  mite  of  beach, 
that  was  to  be  described.  It  was  the  sea-shore  ; 
and  I  should  have  read  it  as  he  did,  and  have 
written  about  the  various  animals  found  on  the 
shores  of  Great  Britain." 

"  Animals  ?  Did  you  ever  hear  a  child  talk  so 
foolishly?  Call  a  crab  and  such-like  ugly  things 
animals! " 

"Then  what  are  they,  Aunty  dear?  And  just 
let  me  ask  you  to  read  a  little  poem  written  by  a 
friend  of  mine.    It  begins  thus  :— 

"Oh,  call  not  insects  ugly : 
There  never  yet  was  one 
Of  God's  created  creatures, 
Beneath  yon  glorious  sun, 
Who  did  not  show  some  beauty, 
Or  play  a  wondrous  part ; 
For  vice  can  only  injure 
Proud  man's  rebellious  heart." 


40 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Mr.  G.  looked  shocked;  but  the  "child,"  as  her 
aunt  called  her,  was  not  so  easily  put  down  by 
looks.  She  accepted  the  frown  on  that  reverend 
brow  as  a  challenge. 

"  Dr.  Johnson,"  she  blurted  out,  "  called  sponges 
'  the  cradles  of  organic  life.'  There  is  a  great  deal 
that  is  most  interesting  to  be  found  in  connection 
with  the  animals  found  on  the  sea-shore.  Yes, 
Aunt,  I  am  sure  of  it.  Do  you  think  such  men  as 
Kingsley,  Gosse,  Lloyd,  and  a  whole  host  of  others, 
clever,  great  minds,  would  have  devoted  their  time 
to  a  'meagre  subject,'  and  'nasty,  ugly  things'? 
If  you  could  but  see  the  brilliantly  beautiful 
flowers  of  the  ocean  in  their  native  homes, — the 
shallow  pools  and  on  the  rock-sides,  or  even  in  a 
good  aquarium,  you  would  never  call  them 
'ugly'  again." 

"  Your  aunt  said  crabs  were  ugly,  Miss  Hetty, 
and  I  quite  agree  with  her.  A  good  heavy  crab, 
well  dressed,  is  a  very  nice  dish ;  but  those  little 
crabs  we  see  crawling  about  on  the  shore  are  ugly 
things." 

"Then  you  will  call  the  seaweeds  nasty;  the 
lovely  feather-like  Brijopsis,  the  exquisite  Corallines, 
the  bright  crimson  Delesseria,  and  the  delicate  lacy 
Rhodymenia." 

"  Good  morning,  Mr.  G.,"  cried  the  Aunt,  rising 
quickly  from  off  her  chair.  "  Come,  Hetty,  I  am 
ashamed  of  you ;  but  you'll  excuse  her,  she  is  such 
a  child."  "Exit  Miss  P.,  followed  by  the  indignant 
Hetty. 

I  was  once  staying  in  a  country  house  with  a 
party  of  people.  One  of  the  ladies  wrote  for  the 
papers ;  another,  a  married  dame  of  high  degree, 
wrote  novels,  high-life,  fashionable-society  books. 
There  was  naturally  a  great  contrast  between  the 
effusions  of  the  two — one  matter  of  fact,  the  other 
high-flown  and  imaginative.  I  do  not  think  the 
writer  on  natural  history  envied  the  other  authoress 
at  all ;  she  seemed  tacitly  to  recognize  the  superior 
power  of  fiction ;  and  I  have  heard  her  lament  her 
utter  inability  to  write  a  readable  tale ;  so  the  little 
incident  I  am  going  to  gossip  about  was  quite  an 
unmerited  piece  of  womanly  spite. 

"VVe  had  just  come  in  from  a  drive.  "  Mamma," 
cries  young  Hopeful,  "do  you  know  there  is  a  new 
writer  in  The  Meadow  this  week  ?  " 

"Is  there?"  said  mamma,  languidly,  as  if  the 
fields  of  earth  were  beneath  her  notice ;  but  Miss 
A.  looked  curious,— The  Meadow  was  one  of  her 
papers. 

"Yes,  mamma,  and  it  is  about  birds.  Do  you 
know,  I  think  Lord  P.'s  kitchen-maid  wrote  it." 

"  I  dare  say  :>hc  did,  dear.  Those  are  the  class  of 
people  who  write  for  the  papers." 

The  rudeness  of  (he  speech  was  so  gross  that  a 
dead  silence  ensued.  Miss  A.  coloured,  and  say- 
ing  she  must  take  off  her  hat,  left  the  room. 

Next  day  I  brought  in  five  newly-hatched  little 


yellow  chicks   from  the  hen-house   in  my  garden- 
apron  to  the  drawing-room. 

"  What  darlings ! "  cried  one.  "  Dear  little  fluffy 
things  !"  said  another. 

Mrs. drew  near.    I  exhibited  my  treasures. 

"  What  are  they  ?  "  she  asked. 

"Chickens  !  "  replied  several  voices. 

She  drew  herself  up  stiffly.  She  thought  she 
was  being  hoaxed  in  some  way. 

"  Oh  no ;  young  chickens  are  like  young  birds  or 
young  white  mice  ;  they  have  no  feathers  on  them  for 
some  days  after  birth." 

This  was  so  intensely  comic  that  I  could  not 
resist  saying,  "I  refer  you  to  Lord  P.'s  kitchen- 
maid,  if  you  doubt  my  word  that  these  are  young 
chicks.  She  is  sure  to  be  well  upon  such  subjects." 

Auother  time  I  saw  a  young  lady  run  away  from 
an  enraged  turkey-cock,  crying  out  that  a  wild  beast 
was  attacking  her ;  and  on  being  told  the  name  of 
her  furious  foe,  she  exclaimed  : 

"  That  a  turkey !  oh  no,  my  good  man,"  address- 
ing the  farm-servant,  "  I  know  a  turkey  too  well ; 
have  seen  too  many  at  papa's  table  to  believe  that 
nonsense." 

Nor  is  it  very  long  since  I  saw  a  very  pretty,  but 
rather  affected  girl,  in  a  perfect  rage  with  the  family 
doctor,  because  he  would  not  believe  that  her 
brother's  pet  slow-worm  had  stung  her  finger  with 
what  she  called  "  his  poison-faug,"  and  made  it 
inflame  so  badly. 

He  assured  her  again  and  again  that  it  was  im- 
possible, that  the  reptile  had  no  poison;  but  she 
left  the  room  in  disgust,  saying,  "  I  shall  drive  over 

to  Dr.  T [a  neighbouring  M.D.] ;  he  will  not 

tell  me  that  a  snake  can't  sting." 

Beaumaris.  Helen  E.  Watney. 

The  Law  of  Earthquakes.— Mr.  F.  R.  Cape, 
of  Philadelphia,  has  been  studying  the  law  of  earth- 
quakes. Writing  to  the  Post  of  that  city,  he  says  : 
"For  four  years  the  earthquake  periods  have  been 
announced,  and  I  believe  in  all,  or  nearly  all  cases, 
verified.  The  recent  earthquake  periods  were  an- 
nounced to  friends  in  Troy,  New  York,  with  the 
remark  that  the  principal  October  combination  of 
earthquake  forces  was  one  of  great  violence.  The 
first  ran  from  the  12th  to  the  IStli,  second  from  the 
25th  to  November  3rd.  They  are  of  two  kinds,  the 
premonitory  and  final  shocks.  It  is  but  possible 
that  the  general  slump  on  the  20th  was  the  adjust- 
ment of  one  massive  crust  to  the  conditions  result- 
ing from  the  derangements  of  the  first  period.  1 
rather  think,  however,  that  they  were  only  premoni- 
tory of  the  approaching  latter  period,  to  occur  about 
the  last  week  of  the  present  month.  Tidings  of 
earthquakes  occurring,  especially  in  shock  localities, 
will  be  duly  reported  for  that  period,  and  your  play- 
ful hint  on  the  subject  has  prompted  me  to  inform 
you  beforehand,  as  I  do  with  the  utmost  confidence." 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


41 


ZOOLOGY. 

Bats.— On  the  afternoon  of  the  20th  November 
I  saw  a  pair  of  common  bats  (/'".  Pipistrellus)  fly- 
ing about  and  catching  gnats  with  great  alertness. 
Is  not  this  very  late  for  them. to  be  on  the  wing? 
Query :  Is  there  any  truth  in  the  statement  that, 
on  holding  a  white  handkerchief  up,  they  will  fly 
against  it  ?  I  have  several  times  tried,  but  always 
found  it  to  fail—  W.  II.  Swlby,  Bingley,  York- 
shire. 

Monkey  and  Dog.— A  terrier   and  a  monkey, 
belonging  to    11.  W.    Eox,  of  Penjerrick,    have   | 
formed  a  strong  mutual  attachment,  and  are  sel-  | 
dom  separated  by  day  or  by  night.     The  monkey 
mounted  on  Pincher's  back  often  accompanies  him  ] 
in  his  rambles,  not  erect,  as  a  lifeguardsman,  but, 
more  like  one  of  Catlin's  Indians  (avoiding  the  | 
arrows  of  a  foe),  lies  at  full  length  on  his  steed's 
back,  holding  tight  with  all  fours.     Jenny's  tail, 
which,  although  not  prehensile,  serves  somewhat 
like  a  crupper  to  steady  herself,  by  bending  against  j 
that  of  Pincher.    If  they  meet  a  strange  dog  in 
their  excursions,  and  Jenny  has  reason  to  fear  that 
a  duel  is  imminent,  she  jumps  off,  runs  up  a  bank, 
or  climbs  a  tree,  until  the  coast  is  clear,  and  then 
remounts  without  help.    Roberts,  the  gamekeeper 
on  a  neighbouring  estate  (Penwarne),  informs  me 
that  while  recently  going  on  his  rounds  he  saw  a 
rabbit  bolt  from  a  hole  followed  by  a  strange  animal, 
which  he  was  about  to  shoot,  when  he  observed  its 
long  tail,  and  that  it  ran  towards  Pincher  (who  was 
at  a  short  distance),  and  was  quickly  on  dog-back. 
Both  were  retreating  from  the  dangerous  neighbour- 
hood, but  lloberts  sent  his  setter  dog  to  bring  them 
back,  and  soon  made  peace  with  both  the  little 
fellows  sporting  without  a  license.       Roberts    is 
persuaded  that    Jenny  could  be  taught   to   turn 
out  rabbits   better   than  a  ferret  could  do.      He 
thinks  that  Pincher's  scratching  at  the  entrance  of 
a  hole  is  a  signal  for  Jenny  to  inquire  withiu.     If 
Pincher    enters    a   brake  where    he    is  invisible, 
Jenny  gets  into  a  tree  where  she  is  more  likely  to 
have  a  sight  of  his  movements.— C.  Fox. 

Badgers  from  Penwarne  destroyed  last  autumn 
many  beehives  at  Tregedna  (where  the  birds  find  a 
loving  protector).  These  representatives  of  Bruin 
in  England  have  torn  in  pieces  thick  deal  planks 
on  which  some  of  the  hives  rested,  and  appear 
to  have  attempted  to  throw  down  strong  posts 
on  which  others  were  raised  out  of  their  reach. 
Badgers  are  probably  as  eager  to  eat  the  brood  of 
bees  as  their  honey,  as  even  the  stings  of  wasps  do 
not  prevent  their  tearing  out  their  nests  in  my 
orchard,  to  devour  the  larva?  and  pupa?.— C.  Fox, 
Trebah,  Mar  Falmouth,  Dec.  23,  1870. 


U  raster  rubens. — Are  not  the  "  fish  mouths  " 
described  by  Mr.  11.  Ingall,  in  his  interesting  paper 
on   this  species,   one  variety  of   the  pediciilaria  ? 
There  are  two  distinct  forms  of  these  bodies  on   U. 
miens.    The  larger  somewhat  resemble,  when  seen 
in  profile,  a  pair  of  spring  shears,  and  are  scattered 
rather  sparingly  over  the  spaces  between  the  spines. 
Besides  these  there  is  a  smaller  and  very  different 
form,  much  more  numerous  and  clustered  in  groups 
round  the  spines,  and  which,  I  would  suggest,  are 
the  "mouths"  your  correspondent  observed  open- 
ing and  shutting.     They  are  composed  of  two  cal- 
careous pieces,  showing  the  characteristic  reticu- 
lated structure  of  the  Echinodermata,  and  each  of 
which  is  prolonged  backwards  into  a  short  taug, 
which  crosses  the  tang  of  the  corresponding  piece, 
so  that  the  two  jaws  play  on  each  other  like  the 
blades  of  a  pair  of  scissors.     As  far  as  my  observa- 
tion goes,  they  are  only  found  in  close  proximity  to 
the  spines,  and  are  most  plentiful  in  the  neighbour, 
hood  of  the  ambulacral  avenues.    Seen  in  front  when 
in  a  state  of  activity  they  bear  no  very  distant  resem- 
blance to  the  jaws  of  a  fish ;  but  whether  they  have 
any  communication  with  the  digestive  organs,  is,  I 
should  think,  extremely  doubtful.    Both  kinds  of 
pediciilaria  are  enveloped  by  an  extension  of  the 
general  investing  membrane,  and  unlike  those  of  the 
Echinida?,   which    possess  a  calcareous    footstalk. 
Their  use  in  the  economy  of  the  animal  is,  I  believe, 
yet  to  be  discovered.      A  prepared  specimen  of  the 
integuments  of  Uraster  rubens  exhibits  the  spines, 
the  pediciilaria,  and  the  arrangemeut  of  the  dermal 
plates  to  great  advantage.    It  should  be  macera- 
ted in  very  dilute  liquor  potassa?  for  two  or  three 
days  to  remove  the  animal  matter,  then  thoroughly 
washed,  and  dried  under  gentle  pressure.    The  cen- 
tral disc  containing   the  madreporiform  tubercle, 
forms,  when  mounted  opaque,  a  very  beautiful  and 
attractiveobject  for  very  lowpowers,  3-inch  or  4-inch. 
The  integuments  of  other  starfishes,  as  for  instance 
the  Sunstar  (Sotaster  papposa),  the  Eyed  Cribella 
(Cribella  oculata),  and  the   Bird's-foot  {Palmipes 
membranaceus),  may  be  treuted  in  the  same  manner, 
and  are  all  well  worthy  of  a  place  in  the  cabinet. 
The  arrangement  aud  form  of   the    spines  vary 
greatly  in  the  species  named.      The   fasciculi  of 
spines  in  the  Sunstar  and  the  small  palmate  spines 
of  Palmipes  are  very  curious.— Edward  Horsnail 7, 
Docer,  Jan.  9,  1871. 

Dipterous  Lary.e  under  the  Shell  of  a 
Tortoise.— On  the  9th  of  November  last,  when 
engaged  in  removing  the  shell -plates  from  the 
carapace  of  a  Greek  Tortoise  {Testudo  Grceca),  in 
order  to  examine  the  sutures,  I  was  surprised  to  find 
a  number  of  small  dead  and  dried  larva?  between 
the  plates  and  the  bone.  The  tortoise  had  been 
dead  for  some  years,  aud  the  plates  had  become 
loose  from   the   drying  of  the  shell.    The  larva? 


42 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


appeared  to  have  actually  eaten  the  bone,  for  its 
outer  surface  was  gone,  and  the  internal  cellular 
structure  exposed  where  they  occurred.  Thinking 
the  parent  insect  had  chosen  rather  an  odd  place 
in  which  to  deposit  its  eggs,  I  sent  the  larvae  to 
Professor  Westwood,  of  Oxford,  who  pronounced 
them  to  be  those  of  a  "two-winged  fly,  possibly  of 
some  Tacldnia,  or  allied  Muscida>"  and  added,"  The 
eggs  were  probably  laid  in  such  situation  soon  after 
the  death  of  the  animal." — Robert  Morton  Middle- 
ton,  Jan.,  The  Bank,  West  Hartlepool,  Jan.  7, 1871. 

The  Pood  of  the  Weasel.  —  The  Weasel 
(Mustela  vulgaris)  is  popularly  supposed  to  possess 
a  somewhat  fastidious  palate,  preferring  game  and 
poultry  for  his  ordinary  repasts,  and  only  condescend- 
ing to  notice  rats  and  mice  and  other  small  animals 
when  pressed  by  hunger ;  so  that  incessant  warfare 
is  waged  against  him  by  gamekeepers  and  others  on 
account  of  his  presumed  destructiveness.  One  day 
last  autumn  I,  however,  had  an  opportunity  of  dis- 
turbing one  while  enjoying  his  meal,  which  consisted, 
not  of  the  brains  of  a  pheasant  or  partridge,  but  of 
the  carcase  of  a  poor  batrachian — a  frog !  He  more- 
over evidently  enjoyed  his  "game,"  for  he  returned 
to  his  repast  on  my  standing  quietly  by. — J.  B., 
Dolgelly. 

Crass. — I  have  no  doubt  Mrs.  Watney  is  right  in 
stating  that  the  powers  of  locomotion  of  her  new 
pet  are  very  limited ;  but  some  ten  years  ago,  when 
walking  over  the  sands  between  Ramsgate  and 
Broadstairs  I  saw  a  crass  about  the  size  of  a  small 
plate  basking  in  the  rays  of  an  autumnal  setting  sun. 
Anxious  to  take  possession  of  him,  I  proceeded  to 
dig  him  up  with  the  blunt  blade  of  a  knife  five 
inches  in  length ;  but  the  more  I  dug  the  deeper  he 
went,  till  at  last  I  found  that  I  had  made  a  great 
hole  two-thirds  full  of  sea-water.  I  therefore  gave 
up  the  chase  and  returned  home  deeply  humiliated 
at  having  been  conquered  by  a  "  Crass." — E.  J.  T. 

Great  Bustard  (Otis  tarda).—  At  the  meeting 
of  the  Zoological  Society  on  the  3rd  of  January 
Mr.  Tegetmeier  exhibited  and  made  remarks  on  a 
specimen,  in  the  flesh,  of  a  female  of  the  Great 
Bustard  which  had  been  killed  on  the  29th  December 
near  Peltham,  in  Middlesex. 

Pedicellarle  of  Echinodermata. — If  your 
readers  will  turn  to  my  "  Tenby  "  (pp.  232—251), 
and  to  my  "  Evenings  at  the  Microscope  "  (pp.  339 
— 34G),  they  will  sec  that  Mr.  H.  Ingall's  observa- 
tions on  Pedicellarise  (Science-Gossip,  p.  9),  and 
a  great  deal  more,  have  been  long  ago  anticipated. 
His  suggestion  of  the  use  of  these  curious  organs 
is  also  mine, — "that  they  are  intended  to  seize 
minute  animals,  and  to  hold  them  till  they  die  and 
decompose,  as  baits  to  attract  clouds  of  Infusoria, 
which,  multiplying  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Urchin, 
may    afford    it    an    abundant    supply    of   food." 


("  Evenings  at  the  Microscope,"  p.  34G.)  Not  the 
slightest  acknowledgment,  however,  is  made  of  my 
observations  or  of  my  conjecture. — P.  H.  Gosse, 
F.R.S.,  Torquay. 

Natural  Selection. — At  a  millpond  near  the 
farm-steading  of  Manbean,  Elginshire,  there  has 
been  for  years  a  colony  of  the  Water-hen  {Falica 
chloropus,  Linn.),  protected,  as  far  as  possible, 
from  the  catapult  of  the  schoolboy  and  the  fowling- 
piece  of  idlers.  These  birds  are  now  so  tame  that 
they  daily  feed  with  the  poultry,  and  are  not  much 
disturbed  by  the  approach  of  a  stranger.  One  day, 
during  the  late  continued  severe  weather,  when  a 
little  dog  was  running  about  the  edge  of  the  poud, 
which  was  then,  and  had  been  for  days,  completely 
frozen  over,  four  of  these  birds,  aware  that  their 
wonted  refuge  was  closed  against  them,  seemingly 
without  any  unwonted  effort,  took  to  wing  and 
perched  some  thirty  or  forty  feet  high  on  the  sur- 
rounding trees.  Oue  of  them  walked  stately  and 
steadily  for  a  few  yards  up  a  drooping  branch  of  a 
larch.  All  the  four  showed,  by  their  skill  and  com- 
posure, that  they  were  not  altogether  from  home  in 
the  airy  retreat  which,  water-birds  though  they 
were,  they  had  thus  naturally  selected  under  dif- 
ficulties.— G.  G. 

Cyclostoma  elegans.— Reeve  and  Tate  both 
agree  that  this  mollusk  extends,  in  England,  as  far 
north  as  Yorkshire.  I  have  found  it  at  Boston  Spa 
on  the  magnesian  limestone ;  and  it  is  given  as  a 
Scarbro'  shell  in  Beau's  list  in  "  Theakston's  Scar- 
bro'  Guide,  1843."  I  wish  to  work  out  the  dis- 
tribution of  this  shell  in  Yorkshire,  and  shall  be 
glad  of  localities  for  it  in  that  county.  I  should 
also  like  to  know  if  it  has  ever  occurred  north  of 
Yorkshire,  or  has  ever  been  fouud  on  coast  sand- 
hills in  that  or  any  other  county. — Francis  G.  Bin- 
vie,  8,  Low  Ousegate,  York. 

Cormorants  in  the  Bosphorus. — Southerly 
winds  have  prevailed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Con- 
stantinople longer  than  usual  at  this  season 
(Dec.  21)  of  the  year,  and  have  detained  large 
numbers  of  vessels  at  their  anchorage-grounds  in 
the  Bosphorus  and  other  localities.  Large  shoals 
of  fish  have  appeared  near  the  Seraglio  point, 
forced  up  the  Marmora's  swollen  waters  by  storms, 
and  have  attracted  a  multitude  of  cormorants.  The 
water  for  a  large  distance  is  literally  covered  with 
them;  they  are  in  thousands,  fishing  in  compact 
masses,  their  black  heads  and  necks  dotting  the 
waters  over  a  great  area  near  the  Seraglio  point, 
and  then  suddenly  disappearing  below  the  surface, 
as  if  all  of  them  had  vanished  entirely,  so  con- 
sentaneous is  the  whole  mass  in  diving  after  their 
prey.  The  fishermen  are  also  taking  large  quan- 
tities of  fish  in  the  Bosphorus  with  hooks  and 
nets.  —Robson,  Ortaheny. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


43 


BOTANY. 

Polymorphic  Fungi.— In  the  current  part  of 
Popular  Science  Review,  a  description  is  given  of  a 
species  of  mucor  developed  from  the  mycelium  of 
the  roseate  penicillium  of  dead  box-leaves.  And  in 
Mr.  Lewis's  report  on  cholera  evacuations,  recently 
published  in  Calcutta,  occurs  another  similar  in- 
stance of  a  mucor  developed  from  the  mycelium  of 
a  penicillium,  the  two  observations  thus  confirming 
and  strengthening  each  other. 

Red  Snow. — An  interesting  account  of  the  sub- 
stance so  called  is  to  be  found  under  plate  241  in 
the  4th  volume  of  Greville's  Scottish  Cryptogamic 
Flora.  The  minute  plant,  under  the  name  of  Pro- 
tococcus  nivalis,  is  figured  and  described,  and  the 
different  theories  and  opinions  which  had  obtained 
as  to  the  nature  and  origin  of  this  mysterious  organ- 
ism are  detailed.  In  times  past,  red  snow,  and  red 
spots  on  bread,  and  similar  phenomena,  for  which 
no  very  satisfactory  account  could  be  given,  inspired 
terror,  and  were  considered  as  prognostic  of  evil. 

'"-  Early  Gardens.— The  roll  of  the  household  ex- 
penses of  the  Countess  of  Leicester,  a  daughter  of 
King  John,  goes  far  towards  proving  that  gardens 
were  more  cultivated  in  the  early  ages  than  the 
paragraph  quoted  in  Science-Gossip  would  lead 
one  to  suppose ;  green  peas,  beans,  parsley,  onions, 
fennel,  and  pot-herbs,  being  amongst  the  vegetables 
mentioned,  although  it  is  exceedingly  probable  that 
the  gardeners  of  the  period  were  monks.  This 
same  roll  mentions  only  apples  and  pears  in  the  list  of 
fruit ;  but  Matthew  Paris  says,  when  describing  a 
very  bad  season  in  England,  that  quinces,  cherries, 
plums,  and  shell-fruits  were  entirely  destroyed; 
thus  showing  that  in  the  year  1257  such  fruits  were 
grown  in  this  country.  The  "shell-fruits''''  are 
supposed  to  have  been  walnuts,  chestnuts,  and  com- 
mon cobnuts.  Oranges  were  not  known  in  France 
before  1333,  but  they  are  mentioned  in  England  as 
early  as  1290 — imported,  of  course,  not  grown  in 
the  country.  Eleanor  of  Castile,  Edward's  queen, 
it  is  supposed,  first  introduced  this  fruit  on  English 
tables,  and  a  dessert  of  that  age  would  not  appear  at 
all  out  of  date  now. — H.  JFatney. 

Henbane. — This  is  one  of  the  plant-names  which 
has  puzzled  Dr.  Prior  (p.  108,  2nd  edition).  The 
following  cutting  from  the  Athenauim,  No.  2,182, 
August  21st,  1869,  may  prove  interesting  to  some 
readers;  it  bears  the  well-known  signature  of 
A.  De  Morgan : — "  Hanne-baiie ;  Hyocyamus.  Here 
are  two  words  wrongly  spelt  according  to  our 
notions.  Our  English  word  henbane  is  supposed  to 
indicate  a  plant  which  is  fatal  to  domestic  fowls  ; 
but  nobody  makes  out  that  the  hens  ever  eat 
it.      In   Gerard's   'Herbal'   (1597)   hanne-bane    is 


given  as  the  only  French  word  for  what  they  now 
call  jusquiame,  from  the  Italian  jusquiamo.  In  the 
Academy's  Dictionary  hane-bane  and  hene-bene  are 
given  as  obsolete  forms,  for  which  reference  is  made 
to  jusquiame.  Neither  hannc  nor  bane  has  separate 
recognition  from  the  Academy,  nor  does  either 
occur  in  any  compound  except  one,  so  far  as  I  can 
find.  It  may  be  suspected  that  a  form  of  the  old 
word  is  seen  in  that  '  hebenon '  with  which  the 
Danish  Cain  murders  his  brother.  The  Greek  word 
means  hog-bean.  Now,  vo  is  the  crude  form  of  hog,  and 
Kua/j-og  is  bean  ;  hence  voKva\ihc,  (Jiyocyamus)  should 
be  the  word,  analogous  with  vo-6Xog,  voudfig,  &c. 
The  common  form  vo<jKvaj.iug  (Jiyoscyamus),  with  the 
full  genitive  vbg,  is  just  such  a  word  as  we  see  in 
horse's-radish,  cow's-heel,  goose's-berry,  &c.  It  is 
true  that  the  insertion  may  only  be  intended  to 
avoid  a  number  of  short  syllables  coming  together, 
as  seems' to  be  done  in  vgttoXoq,  &c.  But  we  need, 
not  preserve  what  to  a  Greek  ear  was  only  euphonic 
to  the  confusion  of  etymology.  It  would  surely  be 
desirable  to  write  hyocyamus."— li.  T.,  M.A. 

Pansy. — In  the  additional  remarks  to  the  first 
edition  of  his  "Popular  Names  of  British  Plants," 
Dr.  Prior  gives  a  reference  to  Chaucer, — "Assem- 
blie  of  Ladies,"  v.  G2,  where  we  have  "poure 
penses;"  in  Spenser's  "  Shepheard's  Calendar," 
April,  1579,  we  have  "pretie  pawnee;"  and  in 
Milton's  "Par.  Lost,"  bk.ix.,  and  "Lycidas "'(these 
last  three  given  in  Richardson's  Dictionary)  wc 
have  pansy.  William  Webbe,  in  his  "Discourse  of 
English  Poetrie"  (15S6),  has,  in  his  translation  of 
Virgil's  second  Eclogue  (p.  79,  Arber's  edition), 
pancyes ;  but  on  p.  84  (possibly  owing  to  the  re- 
quirements of  his  verse)  he  has  "  prety  paunce." 
Does  the  dissyllabic  form  occur  in  earlier  authors  ? 
In  this  same  work  we  have  also,  p.  79,  "  broade 
Mary  Goldes;"  p.  82,  "  Daifadillies ; "  p.  S4, 
"  Gelliflowres  sweete,"  "  Cullambynes,"  "Corna- 
tion"  (see  Prior,  p.  53),  "Daffadowndillies," 
"  Kyngcuppe,"  "  deluce  flowre,"  and  in  close  con- 
nection with  comation  we  have  "  Wynesops." 

"  Let  us  have  the  Wynesops 
With  the  Cornation  that  among:  the  loue  laddes 
Wontes  to  be  vvorne  much." 

(See  Sops-iii-Wine,  Prior,  p.  216 ;  also.p.  3S.)— P.  T., 
M.A. 

Shamrock. — This  Linnseus,  in  his  "  Flora  Lap  - 
ponica  "  (edit.  Smith,  1792),  p.  230,  states  to  be  the 
Trifolium  pratense.  His  words  are  : — "  Hiberni  suo 
chambroch,  quod  est  Trifolium  pratense  pur- 
pureum,  aluntur,  celeres  et  promptissimi  roboris, 
Muni.  duet.  125,  conficiunt  enim  panem  e  fionbus 
hujus  plantse  melleum  odorem  spirantibus,  qui 
magis  placet,  quam  qui  ex  spergula  recensita 
paratur;"  i.e.  from  the  Corn  Spurrey  (S.  arvensis). 
—See  Prior,  "Plant-Names,"  p.  210—  B.T.,  M.A. 


41 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Cells.— A  slide  with  movable  cover,  better  than 
either  of  those  noticed  in  the  last  two  numbers  of 
Science  -  Gossip,  is  "  Piper's  Revolving  Cover 
Slide."  It  is  a  mahogany  slide  with  circular  open- 
ing, and  the  cover  is  a  bone  disk,  which  is  fixed  to 
the  side  by  a  brass  stud,  near  the  edge  of  the  cell, 
so  that  it  can  be  turned  on  one  side  (as  on  a  pivot) 
to  view  the  object.  They  may  be  used  for  any 
opaque  object,  but  are  admirably  adapted  for  mount- 
ing moss  capsules  to  exhibit  the  hygrometric  move- 
ments of  the  peristome.  I  have  used  the  wooden 
box  cells  mentioned  in  Science-Gossip,  February, 
186S,  for  the  latter  purpose,  but  found  the  moisture 
from  the  breath  condense  upon  the  glass  slide  to 
which  the  boxes  were  attached;  and  another  objec- 
tion was,  that  the  loose  lids  were  not  of  one  uniform 
size.  A  loose  lid  should  be  made  to  fit  any  box  in- 
discriminately ;  but  a  revolving  cover  is,  I  think, 
preferable.  This  slide  was  invented  by  Mr.  Piper, 
of  the  Old  Change  Society,  and  those  I  use  were 
bought  at  Baker's,  in  Holborn.— A.  S. 

A  New  Mounting  and  Dissecting  Micro- 
scope.— I  have  been  lately  using  one  of  Mr.  Field's 
Universal  Mounting  and  Dissecting  Microscopes  in 
the  preparation  of  objects,  and  find  it  so  useful  and 
so  compact,  that  I  think  some  of  your  readers  may 
be  glad  to  know  of  its  existence.— B.  H.  Nisbeti 
Broicne. 

New  British  Desmids. — Mr.  Archer  has 
recently  brought  before  the  Dublin  Microscopical 
Club  examples  of  new  and  rare  Desmids  ;  amongst 
which  we  notice  SpJuerozosma  secedens  (de  By.),found 
at  Kylemore,  County  Galway;  also  a  species  of 
Staurastnm  allied  to  S.  Iceve  of  Ralfs,  of  which  he, 
for  the  present,  regards  it  as'  a  variety  {Clevei). 
A  species  of  Euastrum  has  been  found,  which  ac- 
cords with  no  described  species  in  many  features, 
but  is  allied  to  E.  ansatum  (Ehr.).  At  a  succeeding 
meeting,  Mr.  Archer  exhibited  Slaurastrum  maa- 
mense,  Archer,  and  Micrasterias  fimhriuta,  Ralfs  ; 
both  rare,  and  found  in  gatherings  from  Connemara. 
On  other  occasions,  the  same  gentleman  exhibited 
new  and  rare  specimens  of  Desmids,  and  other 
minute  algce,  and  offered  his  opinion  thereon.  How 
is  it  that  Mr.  Archer  finds  his  perseverance  so  well 
rewarded  by  the  continual  discovery  of  new  and  in- 
teresting forms  in  Ireland,  and  that  in  England  no 
addition  whatever  is  being  made  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  distribution,  structure,  &c,  of  these  interest- 
ing algae  ? 

Scale  of  Minnow  {Leuclscus  phoxinus). — 
These  scales  are  very  minute  and  delicate ;  in  fact, 
they  require  that  the  fish  should  be  scraped  with  a 
penknife,  and  the  scrapings  transferred  to  a  little 
water  on  a  slide,  and  submitted  to  the  microscope 


before  they  can  be  discovered.  When  found,  the 
character  of  the  scale  is  sufficiently  distinct  from  all 
the  others  heretofore  figured  that  it  will  not  be  con- 
sidered too  much  trouble  to  pursue  the  course  we 
have  indicated  in  order  to  obtain  them.  Our  readers 
will  remember  that  we  have  already  figured  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  scales  of  British  fresh-water 
fishes  in  previous  volumes.  The  series  is  not  yet 
complete ;  there  are  several  we  should  still  like  to 
add,  and  for  these  we  await  with  patience  the   co- 


Fig.  '22.  Scale  of  Minnow. 

operation  of  those  of  our  correspondents  who  arc 
interested  in  the  subject.  Positive  accuracy  in 
identification  of  species  is  indispensable.  This  is 
comparatively  easy  iu  some  cases,  as  that  of  the 
Barbel,  &c. ;  but  where  not  so  easy,  it  is  prudent  to 
submit  the  fish  from  which  the  scales  are  taken  to 
some  competent  authority.  Under  these  conditions 
we  shall  be  glad  of  scales  from  all  species  not  yet 
figured  in  this  journal. 

Structure  of  Insect  Scales. — This  subject 
has  been  much  discussed  of  late,  and,  of  course, 
there  has  been  difference  of  opinion.  In  the 
"Monthly  Microscopical  Journal"  for  January 
appeared  a  paper  by  Mr.  S.  J.  Mclntire,  illustrated 
by  three  page  plates,  containing  numerous  figures  ; 
and  the  eleven  pages  of  letter-press  abound  with 
observations  and  suggestions  of  interest  on  the 
structure  of  these  objects,  hitherto  so  little  compre- 
hended or  understood. 

Microscopy  in  New  York.—  We  learn  that 
there  are  in  reality  two  Microscopical  Societies  in 
New  York  City.  The  oldest  is  the  American 
Microscopical  Society  of  New  York,  which,  for 
some  cause  or  other,  does  not  seem  to  have  realized 
all  that  many  ardent  spirits  desired;  consequently 
the  Bailey  Microscopical  Club  was  established,  and 
is  in  such  vigorous  condition— so  we  are  informed— 
that  it  threatens  to  "go-a-head,  and  beat  all  other 
Microscopical  Clubs  in  the  '  versal  world.'  "  Move 
on,  brother  Jonathan,  and  good  luck  to  you  ! 


IIARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


45 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Ecb.inodeema.ta.— Can  any  reader  inform  me  in 
what  part  of  England  the  large  common  Urchin, 
Echinus  sphara,  is  eaten,  and  how  it  is  prepared  ? 
Eorbcs,  in  his  work  on  the  British  starfishes,  says, 
"Abroad,  like  its  congener  the  true  Echinus  esculen- 
tus,  it  is  much  eaten,  and  Pennant  says  it  is  eaten 
by  the  poor  in  many  parts  of  England."  _  I  would 
also  like  to  know  if  Synapta  isa  widely-distributed 
British  genus.  A  species,  which  I  take  to  be  the 
S.  inheerens,  occurs  in  immense  numbers  on  the 
mud-flats  in  our  lough.  It  has  the  exact  shape 
of  plates  and  anchor  spines  figured  by  Carpenter 
in  his  work  on  the  microscope.— W.  S.,  Belfast. 

Tamarisk  Manna—  Eor  very  many  years  it  has 
been  asserted  that  a  kind  of  manna  is  produced  in 
the  East  on  some  species  of  tamarisk.  This  asser- 
tion requires  confirmation.  One  author  after 
another  repeats  it,  but  can  any  one  affirm  from 
personal  observation  that  such  a  substance  is  yielded 
by  any  species  of  tamarisk  whatever  ? — C. 

Is  the  Landrail  a  Bird  of  Passage  ?— The 
Landrail  (Ball/is  Cre.il)  is  invariably  described  as  a 
true  migratory  bird  by  naturalists  ;  notwithstanding 
which  I  have  the  presumption  to  doubt  the  authen- 
ticity of  the  alleged  fact,  and  am  disposed  to  believe 
that  its  prolonged  silence  is  mistaken  for  absence. 
Their  familiar  call  ceases  after  the  season  of  incuba- 
tion, with  other  instincts  of  nature,  and  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  at  the  approach  of  winter  they  retire 
to  the  wet  moorlands  and  heaths,  where  food  is  more 
abundant,  and  return  to  the  lowland  meadows  again 
as  the  breeding  season  comes  round.  Iu  support  of 
this  opinion  I  have  to  state  that  on  two  or  three 
occasions  in  the  north  of  England,  I  have,  in  mid- 
winter, shot  specimens  in  a  plump  and  fat  condition, 
such  as  would  negative  the  supposition  that  they 
were  diseased  birds  left  behind  by  their  fellows. 
They  took  wing  with  great  reluctance,  after  being 
tracked  for  a  long  time,  and  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance by  a  setter  ;  and  any  one  who  has  witnessed 
their  slow  and  heavy  flight,  incapable  of  maintain- 
ing their  body  in  a  position  parallel  with  the  plane 
of  the  horizon,  but  allowing  it  to  form  a  consider- 
able angle  therewith,  while  their  legs  trail  beliind, 
cannot  hut  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
Landrail  is  not  endowed  with  the  physical  qualities 
necessary  to  sustain  the  prolonged  flight  entailed  by 
a  passage  to  other  climes.  I  have  to  add  that  I  was 
not  mistaken  in  the  specimens  to  which  I  have 
alluded,  for  I  compared  them  with  Bewick's  illus- 
tration and  description,  and  I  know  very  well  the 
distinction  between  the  Landrail  and  its  congener 
the  Water-rail  (Rallies  aquaticus).—J.  B.  Bolgelly. 

Teeth  of  Strepsodus. — In  the  Northumber- 
land, Staffordshire,  and  Scottish  coal-measures  the 
teeth  of  a  fish  known  as  Strepsodus  are  not  un- 
frequently  found :  their  form  is  strikingly  charac- 
teristic, being  bent  and  recurved  near  the  apex,  a 
peculiarity  which  suggested  the  name  of  the  genus 
to  which  the  fishes  possessing  such  teeth  belonged. 
The  teeth,  in  addition  to  being  recurved,  are  beauti- 
fully striated  longitudinally :  the  striatiqns  run  in 
nearly  parallel  lines  and  only  occasionally  inosculate. 
Some  of  the  teeth  of  Strepsodus  are  free  from  stri- 
ations,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  there  are  two 
species  of  the  genus,  one  having  striated  and  the 


othersmoothteeth.    An  illustration  of  the  tooth  of 

Strepsodus    appears   iu  the  "Transactions  of  the 

Manchester  Geological  Society,"  vol.  i.  p.  167,  pi.  5, 

fig.  12 ;  an  illustration  and  description  of  Strepsodus 

from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Young,   is  published  in  the 

"  Quarterly  Journal  of  the    Geological   Society," 

vol.  xx.  pp.  597,  603;  and  a  description  of  the  jaws 

and  teeth  of   Strepsodus    has   been  published   iu 

Scientific  Opinion,  vol.  i.  p.  556,  vol.  ii.    pp.  13,  25, 

and  vol.  iii.  p.   309.    Until  within  the 

last  few  months  little  was  known  of  the 

arrangement  of  the  teeth  of  this  fish  ; 

but  discoveries  of  nearly  perfect  jaws  in 

Staffordshire  and  Northumberland  have 

proved  that  the  general  arrangement  of 

both  mandibles  and  maxillae  is  a  series 

of  large   laniary  teeth  at_  intervals  of 

about  half  an  inch ;  and  in  the  spaces 

between  the  large  teeth  there  are  five 

teeth  with  the  same  characteristics  as 

the    large    ones,    but    about    half   the    ToothoV 

size.     I  enclose  a  sketch  of  one  of  the  strepsodus. 

larger  forms  of  the  teeth  of  Strepsodus 

(fig.  23).  —  T.  P.  BarJcas,  F.G.S.,  Newcastle-on- 

Tune. 

Shower  of  Blood. — In  the  beginning  of  July, 
160S,  a  supposed  shower  of  blood  fell  for  several 
miles  around  the  suburbs  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The 
cause  of  this  was  discovered  by  M.  de  Peirese  to 
depend  upon  the  exudation  of  large  drops  of  a  blood- 
coloured  liquid  on  the  transformation  of  large  chry- 
salides into  the  butterfly  state.  The  drops  produced 
red  stains  on  the  walls  of  the  small  villages  in  the 
neighbourhood,  on  stones  in  the  highways,  and  in 
the  fields.  The  number  of  butterflies  flying  about, 
too,  was  prodigious.  These  red  drops  were  not 
found  in  the  middle  of  the  city,  or  in  places  where 
the  butterfles  did  not  reach.  To  the  same  cause  M. 
de  Peirese  attributes  (I  think  very  correctly)  some 
other  showers  of  blood  related  by  historians,  that 
happened  in  the  warm  season  of  the  year  when  but- 
terflies arc  most  numerous.  Gregory  of  Tours 
mentions  one  that  fell  in  the  time  of  Childebert,  iu 
different  parts  of  Paris,  and  upon  a  certain  house  in 
the  territory  of  Senlis ;  and  about  the  end  of  the 
month  of  June  another  likewise  fell,  in  the  reign  of 
King  Robert.  Large  drops  of  excrement,  of  the 
colour  of  blood,  are  voided  by  all  the  butterflies 
which  proceed  from  the  different  species  of  hairy 
caterpillar.  On  one  occasion  twenty-eight  chrysa- 
lides of  Vanessa.  Antiopa,  or  Camberwell  Beauty, 
which  I  had  preserved  in  a  small  room,  attached  to 
projecting  bodies,  underwent  transformation  on  a 
single  day  in  July.  The  walls  and  floor  were  so  be- 
spattered with  bright  crimson-coloured  fluid,  resem- 
bling blood,  as  to  give  the  appearance  of  a  regular 
shower  of  the  fluid.— Odd  Showers,  p.  31. 

Electric  Stockings.— Can  any  of  your  readers 
explain  the  following  phenomenon  ?  A  relative  of 
mine  is  in  the  habit  of  wearing  two  pairs  of  stock- 
ings, the  upper,  black  spun  silk,  the  under,  lamb's 
wool.  They  are  drawn  off  together  at  night,  and  ou 
their  being  afterwards  separated,  a  curious  occur- 
rence takes  place.  There  has  been  during  the 
intense  frost  more  than  the  usual  amount  of  electri- 
city in  them,  causing  a  sharp  pricking  sensation  up 
the  arms  of  the  person  drawing  them  apart,  and  the 
stockings  immediately  become  inflated,  and  when 
held  near  a  wall  incline  towards,  aud  finally  adhere 
to,  the  wall ;  so  that  the  four  stockings  remam 
hanging  there  without  any  visible  support.  Is  this 
the  result  of  the  severe  cold?—  E.  M.  P. 


46 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


The  Laburnum  was  called  Bean-trefoile  tree  in 
the  time  of  Gerard,  because  the  seeds  are  shaped 
like  the  bean,  and  the  leaves  like  the  trefoil.  It  had 
also  the  name  of  Peascod-tree  in  that  age,  but  which 
lias  long  given  way  to  that  of  the  Latin  Laburnum, 
which  Haller  says  is  evidently  derived  from  the 
Alpine  name,  L'aubours.  In  French  it  is  named 
Cytise  des  Alpes.  Abotcrs,  and  Faux  Ebenier,  because 
the  wood  was  often  used  as  a  substitute  for  ebony. 
— Sylva  Florifera. 

The  Birch.— The  books  which  Numa  composed 
about  700  years  before  Christ  were  written  on  the 
bark  of  the  Birch-tree ;  and  if  we  may  depend  on 
the  testimony  of  Pliny  and  of  Plutarch,  they  were 
found  in  the  tomb  of  that  great  king,  where  they 
had  remained  400  years. — Sylva  Florifera. 

Dragon-flies  in  London. — I  feel  obliged  to 
your  correspondent  J.  P.  S.  C.  for  his  plausible 
suggestion ;  and  I  must  own  that,  at  all  events,  a 
step  in  the  right  direction  has  been  taken  to  clear 
up  the  mystery  that  surrounds  the  appearance  of 
the  Dragon-fly  in  our  crowded  thoroughfares.  No 
doubt  some  of  your  readers  have  noticed,  standing 
in  a  small  plot  of  ground  within  a  very  few  paces  of 
Bishopsgate-street  Church,  a  small  fountain  sur- 
rounded by  a  pool.  Now  last  spring  some  flags  and 
other  aquatic  plants  were  introduced  into  this  pool ; 
and  it  is  highly  probable  that  if  their  roots  had 
been  carefully  examined,  some  eggs,  or  even  a 
stray  larva  or  two,  would  have  been  discovered. 
There  may  be  many  other  little  fountains  of  this 
kind  in  the  metropolis,  but  I  simply  mention  this 
particular  one  on  account  of  its  being  but  a  mere 
stone's  throw  off  Threadneedle-street,  where,  it 
will  be  remembered,  I  mentioned  that  a  Dragon-fly 
had  been  captured.  With  reference  to  the  dragon- 
flies  that  have  from  time  to  time  made  their  appear- 
ance in  town,  having  wandered  from  their  native 
haunts  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  our  busy  streets,  I 
think  it  improbable,  though  quite  possible,  that  that 
could  have  been  the  case  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  quite 
out  of  the  question  to  suppose  for  a  moment  that 
such  strong  fliers  could  have  been  carried  away  by 
the  wind.  A  friend  of  mine  has  suggested  that  they 
may  have  been  brought  down  the  Thames  by  boats 
that  had  been  moored  amongst  the  reeds ;  but  I 
believe  that  could  not  have  very  well  been  the  case. 
However,  it  is  evident  that  the  question  as  to  how 
and  by  what  means  these  Dragon-flies  made  their, 
appearance  in  the  metropolis  has  not  yet  been 
satisfactorily  answered ;  and  I  fear  it  will  remain 
an  open  question  till  the  summer  brings  us  fresh 
opportunities  of  investigating  the  matter  more 
closely. — S.  A.  Harry. 

Pigeon-Posts. — Perhaps  it  may  interest  some  of 
your  readers  to  know  how  the  pigeon-post  is  man- 
aged. The  pigeons  to  return  to  Paris  are  taken 
from  that  unfortunate  city  by  balloon.  The  letters, 
&C,  to  be  sent  back  by  the  birds  are  reduced  to  a 
very  small  size  by  photography,  and  secured  to  the 
centre  tail-feather,  which  is  stationary  during  flight, 
and  carries  the  burden  easily.  The  foliowingex- 
tract  from  the  Daily  News  of  Jan.  13th  will  show 
what  a  large  number  of  messages  one  pigeon  can 
carry: — "Bordeaux,  .Jan.  lUth.— M.  Feillet,  the 
director  of  the  pigeon-post,  tells  me  that  no  less 
than  30,000  public  and  private  letters  were  dis- 
patched to  Paris  to-day  by  one  pigeon.  Duplicates 
of  these  were  sent  by  two  other  pigeons;  so  that  in 
all  90,000  microscopic  copies  of  letters  were  made. 
— 11.  Budge. 


Aquarium  Query. — For  the  last  three  months  I 
have  kept  a  carp  and  two  gold-fish  in  my  aquarium, 
which  holds  a  little  more  than  three  gallons  of 
water,  and  have  planted  Anacharis  ahina&tnim 
(Water-thyme),  Afyriophyllum  spicatum  (Water-mil- 
foil), and  Vallisncria  spiraUs,m  mud,'whichiscovered 
with  small  stones  to  the  depth  of  about  \\  inch. 
I  have  also  in  it  snails,  beetles,  &c.  On  some 
days  the  water  is  beautifully  clear  and  transparent, 
and,  perhaps,  the  next  morning,  without  any  appa- 
rent reason,  I  find  the  water  so  thick  and  turbid  I 
can  hardly  see  the  fish :  in  about  three  or  four  days 
it  becomes  clear  again.  The  change,  so  far  as  I 
can  judge,  takes  place  in  the  night,  and  I  am  quite 
certain  does  not  proceed  from  the  fish  burrowing 
into  the  mud.  In  vain  have  I  tried  to  account  for 
this  change,  and  am  quite  at  a  loss  to  find  out  its 
cause.  Does  it  proceed  from  the  fish,  the  weeds, 
the  snails,  or  the  beetles  ?  Can  any  of  the  readers 
of  Science-Gossip  solve  this  difficulty  ? — John  B. 
Luson,  Bus  hey  Park  Cottage,  Teddington,  S.  W. 

The  Dahlia  was  but  little  known  in  England 
until  after  the  year  1814,  when  the  peace  enabled 
our  nurserymen  to  obtain  an  additional  supply  both 
of  roots  and  seeds  from  France,  where  the  cultiva- 
tion of  these  plants  had  been  more  attended  to  than 
in  this  country.  The  Count  Lebeur,  at  Paris,  and 
M.  Otto,  at  Berlin,  were  the  principal  foreign  ama- 
teurs who  cultivated  the  Dahlia  previous  to  1809. — 
Flora  Historica. 

"  Eye-stones."— When  a  girl  I  frequently  visited 
a  lady  who  had  some  of  these  stones ;  they  were 
brought  from  Jamaica  or  Sierra  Leone,  I  forget 
which.  For  fifty  years  I  have  been  wishing  to  know 
what  they  were,  but  have  not  met  with  any  one  who 
knew  anything  about  them,  or  had  seen  them.  My 
own  opinion  is  that  they  are  not  stones,  and  certainly 
from  their  form  cannot  be  shells.  I  believe  they  are 
opercula.  I  have  met  with  several  of  the  exact 
form,  though  minute  in  size,  in  sand  shaken  out  of 
sponge,  and  1  have  an  operculum  an  inch  in 
diameter  of  the  precise  form. — F.  C.  B.,  Streatham 
Hill. 

Eye-stones  {Phasianella  Pulliis).  —  The  eye- 
stones  mentioned  by  T.  C.  Izod,  in  the  January 
number,  p.  21,  are  no  doubt  the  opercula  of  some 
species  of  Turbo,  or  one  of  the  allied  genera,  per- 
haps Phasianella.  They  may  possibly  be  intended 
to  defend  the  molluscs  against  the  attacks  of  crabs 
and  other  enemies.  The  widely  distributed  Phasia- 
nella Pullus  is,  I  believe,  the  only  British  species 
possessing  this  kind  of  operculum,  which  usually 
belongs  to  inhabitants  of  warmer  seas.  Perhaps 
some  of  your  readers  can  explain  this  singularity. 
My  own  idea  is  that  this  species,  which  is  found 
abundantly  in  the  tropics,  may  be  a  relict  on  Our 
coasts  of  a  warmer  epoch. — B.  Egerton,  31,  Victoria 
Boad,  Kensington. 

Wno  Killed  Cock  Rorin  ?— In  answer  to 
correspondent  "G.  R. "  the  entertaining  and 
popular  story  of  "Who  Killed  Cock  Robin?  was 
written  by  Rev.  —  Mosely,  who  is  still  living,  and 
is  said  to  have  received  a  very  large  sum  of  money 
from  the  sale. — II.  31.  Damon.. 

Darkling  Spiders. — Two  or  three  days  after 
I  had  read  Mr.  Clifford's  paper  on  "Darkling 
Spiders"  in  Science-Gossip  for  January,  p.  12,  1 
came  upon  the  following  remark  in  the  first  volume 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


17 


of  Nicholson's  "Manual  of  Zoology ":—" Many 

spiders,  however,  do  not  construct  any  web,  unless 
it  be  for  their  own  habitations  ;  but  hunt  their  prey 
for  themselves"  (p.  204).— Edward  Fentone  Mwin, 
Boot  on,  Norwich. 

Gregories  — In  Maton's  "  Observations  relative 
chiefly  to  the  Natural  History,  &c,  of  the  Western 
Counties  of  England"  (1797),  I  find  (vol.  ii.  p.  55), 
under  Frithelstoke  (Cornwall) :  "In  a  pasture  east 
of  the  church  we  found  Narcissus  pseudo-Narcissus 
growing  in  vast  profusion.  The  people  of  the  village 
call  these  plants  Gregories, — a  name  that  struck  lis 
on  account  of  its  coinciding  with  the  appellation 
of  the  order  to  which  the  neighbouring  monastery 
belonged."  Is  this  name  still  in  use  ?  It  is  not 
given  in  Prior,  p.  61.— E.  T.,  31.  J. 

Loose-strife  (p.  19).— I  cannot  agree  with  Mr. 
Ernst  that  '•'Loose-strife,"  as  applied  to  Lysimachia, 
is  to  be  regarded  as  a  "  new-made  plant-name."  T 
find  it  in  Bailey's  English  Dictionary  (1728)  and 
Miller's  "Gardener's  Dictionary"  (I70S),  and 
think  it  will  probably  be  found  in  most  of  the  oid 
Herbals  —  G.  H.  II. 

Climbing  Rats. — A  somewhat  curious  story, 
illustrative  of  the  remarkable  sagacity  shown  by 
some  of  our  smaller  animals,  and  which  you  may, 
perhaps,  deem  worthy  of  mention  in  your  journal, 
was  told  me  the  other  day  by  a  near  neighbour  of 
ours.  The  facts  are  as  follows :'— The  person  to 
whom  I  allude  has  in  her  garden  a  particularly  fine 
apple-tree,  which  had  borne  this  season  a  goodly 
crop.  Suddenly  they  began  to  disappear  without  any 
very  apparent  cause.  She  came  at  length,  however, 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  must  have  been  stolen 
by  some  of  the  boys  of  the  village,  and  accordingly 
thought  no  more  of  the  matter.  Some  time  after, 
the  gardener,  turning  over  a  heap  of  rubbish  placed 
in  a  corner  not  far  from  the  tree,  discovered  in  the 
centre  a  hollow  cavity,  in  which  were  neatly  stored 
the  greater  portion  of  the  missjng_  apples,  a  few 
being  slightly  gnawed,  and  exhibiting  plainly  the 
marks  of  the  depredator's  teeth.  The  rats  must 
have  climbed  the  tree,  bitten  off  the  apples,  de- 
scended again,  and  finally  stored  them  in  the 
manner  related,  doubtless  for  the  purpose  of  form- 
ing a  winter  horde. — /.  S.  William  Durham. 

Lime  Deposit  in  Boilers— Will  " G.  H.  H." 
kindly  tell  me  whether  the  recipe  given  in  the 
January  number,  p.  23,  for  checking  the  lime  de- 
posit in  boilers  is  equally  appropriate  when  the 
water  is  used  for  drinking  and  cooking,  as  well  as 
for  washing  purposes ;  or  should  it  be  applied  in 
the  latter  case  only  ? — H.  H.  G. 

The  Garden  Oracle  for  1871,  edited  by  Shirley 
Hibberd,  and  published  at  the  Gardener 's  Magazine 
office,  is  framed  upon  the  old  model,  but  embodies 
a  number  of  improvements.  It  is  nearly  double  the 
bulk  of  any  previous  issue  of  the  same  work,  and  is 
largely  embellished  with  engravings,  all  of  which 
are  of  a  strictly  useful  character.  This,  the  thir- 
teenth publication  of  the  "  Garden  Oracle,"  is 
characterized  by  a  number  of  peculiarly  attractive 
features;  such  as  figures  and  descriptions,  and  selec- 
tions of  the  most  valuable  garden  vegetables  and 
fruits,  a  series  of  selections  of  "pictorial  trees"  for 
parks,  gardens,  public  promenades,  and  town  en- 
closures, and  a  review  in  detail  of  the  progress  of 
horticulture  in  every  branch  of  the  art  during  the 
past  year.    Strange  to  say,  the  war  has  made  its 


mark  on  this  useful  work,  for  it  contains  no  an- 
nouncements of  new  continental  roses  or  gladioli, 
or  any  other  of  the  many  flowering  plants  which 
our  near  neighbours  have  been  wont  to  supply  our 
gardens  with.  But  the  editor  has  made  amends 
for  these  deficiencies  by  ample  notices  of  new  in- 
ventions, and  selections  of  the  best  varieties  of 
trade  articles  of  every  kind  for  every  imaginable 
purpose  in  connection  with  th 
farm. 


garden  and  the 


Locust  Ravages. — Some  idea  of  the  damage 
done  to  vegetation  by  locusts  in  tropical  countries 
may  be  gathered  from  the  following  account  of  a 
raid  made  by  them  in  an  East  Indian  cotton  planta- 
tion. The  means  adopted  to  repel  them,  was  by 
recourse  to  the  discordant  sounds  of  native  music, 
— horns,  tom-toms,  and  pipes — aided  by  the  waving 
of  flags  and  branches  of  trees.  These  measures, 
undoubtedly,  saved  the  produce;  forjudging  by  the 
performance  of  the  very  small  number  that  suc- 
ceeded in  gaining  admission  to  one  of  the  finest 
fields  unobserved,  had  a  full  complement  effected 
a  lodgment,  one  hour  would  have  sufficed  to  strip 
every  tree  of  its  leaves,  though  the  foliage  was 
abundant,  and  the  plants  in  one  field  from  5  to  6 
feet  high.  The  immunity  which  the  native  Indian 
cotton  enjoyed  from  the  attacks  was  considerable, 
considering  the  avidity  with  which  they  devoured 
the  exotic  descriptions;  and,  true  to  their  early  tra- 
ditions, the  Egyptian  was  evidently  an  especial 
favourite.  Some  of  the  swarms  that  passed  over 
the  country  at  that  time  were  exceedingly  numerous. 
The  arrival  and  settlement  of  one  mighty  mass  was 
a  remarkable  sight.  What  was  first  observed  was 
a  sort  of  haze  on  the  verge  of  the  horizon,  in  a  long 
line,  as  if  a  steamer  had  passed  and  its  smoke  was 
rising  into  vapour  :  this  was  some  hours  before  the 
insects  arrived.  The  cloud  gradually  thickened, 
and  rose  higher  as  they  approached.  When  they 
got  fairly  overhead,  the  air  became  darkened  as  if 
night  was  setting  in,  it  being  yet  mid-day,  and  the 
peculiar  sound  which  accompanied  their  flight  re- 
sembled that  of  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  of  the 
Peepul-tree  when  agitated  by  light  winds ;  but  it  is 
not  until  they  have  settled  down  that  any  idea  can 
be  formed  of  the  immensity  of  their  numbers;  and 
the  early  dawn,  before  sunrise  has  warmed  them 
into  life  and  motion,  is  the  time  to  witness  this 
most  extraordinary  sight.  In  the  instance  now  re- 
ferred to,  the  appearance  the  face  of  the  country 
wore  would  be  best  described  by  supposing  that  a 
tolerably  heavy  fall  of  snow  had  taken  place,  only 
that  the  colour  of  it  was  a  light  brown,  and  this 
extended  for  miles,  as  far  indeed  as  the  eye  could 
reach.  Trees  were  favourite  perching-grouud  for 
the  night,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  contrived 
to  crowd  upon  them,  piles  over  piles,  concealing 
every  vestige  of  leaf  and  branch,  gave  the  trees  a 
singular  appearanee.  At  one  spot  a  stout  and  wide- 
spreading  branch  of  a  banyan-tree  had  snapped  at 
its  stem  from  the  incumbent  weight  of  the  insects. 
— Gardener's  Chronicle  (1871),  p.  70. 

Bother  the  Pigs  !— We  learn  that  as  the  goats 
destroyed  the  indigenous  vegetation  of  St.  Helena, 
so  now  the  pigs  are  rooting  out,  or  promising  ob- 
literation, by  destroying  the  seeds  of  the  most  in- 
teresting plants  of  .Norfolk  Island.  The  noble 
Norfolk  Island  Pine  {Araucaria  excelsd)  is  likely  to 
disappear  before  the  pigs,  which  roam  everywhere, 
greedily  devouring  the  seeds  as  soon  as  they  fall  to 
the  ground. 


4S 


HARDIVICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


Am.  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  he 
addressed  to  the  Pubi.ishkk.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  receiver!  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  cun  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer , not  necessarily  for  publication,  it  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term  ■.  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  he  interested  in  them.  We  do  not 
undertake  to  return  rejected  manuscripts  unless  sufficient 
stamps  are  enclosed  to  cover  the  return  postage.  Neither 
can  we  promise  to  refer  to  or  return  any  manuscript  alter 
one  month  from  the  date  of  its  receipt.  AU  microscopical 
drawings  intended  for  publication  should  have  annexed 
thereto  the  powers  employed,  or  the  extent  of  enlargement, 
indicated  111  diameters  (thus  •  x  320  diameters). 


A  Parisian'  Diatomist  is  informed  that  we  can  tell  him 
nothing  of  Eulenstein's  "  Diatomace;e." 

A.  L. — A  letter  awaits  your  address  respecting  Ligurian 
Queens. 

H.  D.  —  Gardner's  "Taxidermy."  about  eighteenpence  ; 
sold  by  Mr.  Gardner,  of  Oxford  Street,  London. 

S.  F. —  I.  Lecythea  Ruborum  with  Phragmidium  bulbosum. 
2.   Uredo  Potentillarum.     3.  JPucci/tia  glecAomatis. 

W.  Geddes. — Please  send  address  to  F.  Sneyd. 

Miss  S. — We  cannot  undertake  to  name  animals  from  a 
tuft  of  hair. 

H.  E.  S. — We  cannot  determine  without  more  extensive 
examination  than  we  can  devote  to  one  correspondent. 

H.  D. — No.  I.  Adiantum  nffine,  Willd.  No.  2.  Aspidium 
annulare,  Willd.?  Not  enough  to  determine  the  species. — 
J.  G.  B. 

R.  H.  N.  B. — No.  l,  not  a  fungus,  but  diseased  state  of  the 
tissue.  No.  2.  Rhytisma  (uterinum,  a  very  common  fungus, 
but  immature. 

E.  S. — A  very  young  Nudibranch,  apparently  one  of  the 
many  oceanic  species  of  Eolis.  —  J.  H. 

J.  S.,Jun.— No.  2.  Too  small  for  determination.  No.  3. 
Probably  Sertularia  cupressina,  but  too  small  to  see  the 
habit. 

A.  C.  S. — This  slide  contains  Arachnoidiscus  Ehrenftergii  of 
Bailey.  A.  Japonicus  of  Shadbolt  is  the  same  as  Hemiptychus 
ornatus,  Ehr.  =  .4.  ornatus,  Etir.  A.  Ehrenbergii  has  no  trans- 
verse costse,  and  the  granules  are  large  (these,  however,  if 
examined  with  a  500  or  (iOO  and  oblique  light,  will  be  found  to 
cmsist  of  several  smaller  granules).  A.ornatus  has  transverse 
costae,  and  small  but  distinct  granules.  See  Arnott's  paper 
in  Mic.  Journ.,  vol.  vi.  p.  162. — F.  K. 

S.  B.  T.—  It  is  a  fungus  called  Jew's  ear,  Hirneola  auri- 
cula Judace. 

Y.  F.  N.  TI.  S.  C. — Please  send  advertisements  to  Publisher 
with  full  name  and  address. 

Mr.  P.  (Worcester).— The  publisher  remembers  no  query 
remaining  unanswered. 

Sowerby's  Botany.— The  publication  of  this  work  has 
been  resumed,  and  the  Grasses  are  being  issued.  Part  79  — 
the  second  of  the  new  volume — will  be  ready  at  the  same 
time  with  this  journal. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.— Only  one  "  Exchange"  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Hritahi)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legihly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Wanted,  a  small  quantity  of  "Bermuda  earth"  in  ex- 
change for  mounted  diatoms. —  Robert  Cooke,  Jim.,  Egre- 
mont,  near  Birkenhead. 

Polycysti.va.— Good  slides  offered  forslides  of  sponge  spi- 
cules, except  Spongilla  fluviatitis  and  S.  lacustris. — W.  Free- 
man, 165,  Maxey  Road,  Plumstead. 


Mosses. — Sooheria  Ittte  virens  and  others  for  rare  mosses 
or  lichens.— Send  lists  to  R.  V.  T.,  Wished,  Bodmin,  Corn- 
wall. 

Mosses.  —  Fis.iedens  exilis,  &c,  in  exchange  for  other 
mosses.— Send  lists  to  J.  Bagnall,  Jun.,  102,  New  John  Street 
West,  Birmingham. 

Five  live  specimens  of  the  European  Water-tortoise  [Emys 
lutaria)  given  in  exchange  for  line  specimens  of  the  common 
or  smooth  Snake,  Green  Lizards,  or  other  live  British  or 
foreign  reptiles.— W.  A.  Shoolbred,  Jun.,  Tettenhall  Wood, 
Wolverhampton. 

Plerospora  Andromeda.— Seeds  of  this  rare  parasitical 
plant,  neatly  mounted,  in  exchange  for  any  other  named  slide 
of  interest.— Send  slide  to  E.  Ward,  38,  Bradford  Street, 
Coventry. 

For  skin  with  scales  of  Eel-pout  [Lola  vulgaris),  send 
stamped  addressed  envelope  to  G.  E.  Quick,  Long  Lane, 
Southwark  :  any  object  of  interest  acceptable. 

Seed  of  Eschscholtzia  Californica,  Antirrhinum  majus, 
Bartonia  aurea,  Oenothera  biennis.  Tomato,  and  Bertnla 
verrucosa,  for  others.— J.  Necdham,  Jun.,  27,  Approach  Road, 
Victoria  Park. 

Bombyx  Pernyi.— Cocoons  and  eggs  of  this  magnificent 
silkworm  for  tubers  of  Dahlia  and  Gladiolus,  or  other  roots. 
— W.  Tyson,  14,  Hanover  Street,  Leeds. 

Skin  of  Eei  from  Lough  Neagh,  and  crystals  of  Yeolite 
from  the  Giant's  Causeway,  prepared  for  mounting  as  po- 
lariscopic  objects,  for  any  good  object. — W.  Gray,  (i,  Mount 
Charles,  Belfast. 

Echinus  Spines,  small,  unmounted.— Send  stamped  di- 
rected envelope,  and  any  object  of  microscopical  interest  to 
W.,  65,  Wigmore  Street,  London,  W. 

Fossils  from  the  Marl  Stone,  Inferior  Oolite,  and  Chloritic 
Marl,  for  others  from  different  formations  j  also,  rock  speci- 
mens ( West  of  England;  for  others.— F.  C.  Maggs,  Yeovil, 
Somersetshire. 

Uric  Acid  and  other  urinary  deposits.  Good  slides  of 
these  for  other  good  mounted  objects;  named  diatoms  pre- 
ferred.—W.  Overbury,  King-street,  Norwich. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"The  American  Entomologist  and  Botanist."  December, 
1870. 

"The  Animal  World."     No.  16.    January,  1S71. 

"The  Gardener's  Magazine."     Part  (31.    January,  187!. 

"Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."    January,  1871. 

"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  258,  259,  260. 

Hooper  &  Co.'s  "  Seed  Catalogue  "  for  1871. 

"The  Popular  Science  Review."    January,  187 1.     • 

"  The  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal."     January,  1871. 

"Wonders  of  the  Human  Body,"  from  the  French  of  A.  le 
Pileur,  M.D.  j  illustrated  by  45  Engravings,  by  Leveille. 
12mo.     Blackie&Son.     1871. 

"  Odd  Showers ;  or,  an  Explanation  of  the  Rain  of  Insects, 
Fishes,  Lizards,  &c."     By  Carriber.     London  :  Kerby  &  Son. 

"The  Doctor."  No.  1.  Jan.  1871.  London:  Bailliere, 
Tindall,  &  Cox. 

"  Birds  and  Flowers,"  by  Mary  Howitt,  with  87  drawings 
on  wood  by  H.  Giacomelli.     London  :  Nelson  &  Sons. 

"The  Sea  and  its  Wonders,"  by  Mary  and  Elizabeth  Kirby. 
London :  Nelson  &  Sons. 

"The  Garden  Oracle  and  Horticultural  Year  Book  "  for 
1871,  by  Shirley  Hibberd.  Gardener's  Magazine  Office,  11, 
Ave  Maria  Lane. 

"On  a  Localized  Outbreak  of  Typhoid  Fever  in  Islington 
during  Julv  and  August,  1870,  traced  to  the  use  of  Impure 
Milk,"  by  Edward  Ballard,  M.D.     London:  J.  &  A.  Churchill. 

"  Microscopic  Objects,"  figured  and  described  by  John  H. 
Martin.     London :  Van  Voorst. 

"The  Dental  Register."     November,  1870. 


Communications  Received.— E.  F.  E. — H.  E.  W. — E.  II. 
—J.  E.  T.— T.  P.  B.  — E.  M.  P.— R.  E.— R.  V.  T.— E.  J.  T.— 
R.  M.  M.— H.  D.— H.  R.  W.— J.  E.-C  R.— W.  F.— R  C— 
H.  E.  S.— C  F.-J.  R.  L.— S.  F.— A.  H.-J.  B.-F.  S.-J.  B.  D. 
—J.  R.  S.  C— A.  S.— H.  M.— E.  W.— S.  A.  H.-H.  E.  W.— 
H.  E.  R.— G.  E.  Q.— G.  H.  H— R.  H.  N.  B.— I.  G.  B.— 
H.  M.  D.— J.  N.— P.  H.  G— J.  S.  W.  D.-F.  G.  B.— J.  H.— 
C.  II.  R.— W.  T.-G.  G.— W.  A.  S -A.  G.  H— C.  J.  W.  R.— 
H.  P.— H.  B.— E.  S.— R.  B.  S.-W.  G.-J.  W— H.  H.  G.~ 
A.  E.  M.— Y.  F.  N.  H.  S.C.— S.  B. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


49 


"ON    THE    BROAD." 


'And  the  creeping  mosses  and  clambering:  weeds, 
And  the  willow  branches  hoar  and  dank, 
And  the  wavy  swell  of  the  soughing  reeds, 
And  the  wave-worn  horns  of  the  echoing  bank, 
And  the  silvery  marish-flowers  that  throng 
The  desolate  creeks  and  pools  among, 
Were  flooded  over  with  eddying  song." 

Tennyson. 


T  was  a  fine  sum- 
mer   evening  — 
ah  !     how    long 
that  evening  was 
ago  we  scarcely 
care  to  tell.    It 
may  be  that   it 
was  a  quarter  of 
a  century,  for  then  we  were 
little  more  than  boys  together, 
and  now  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  pluck  out  all  the  grey 
hairs.     So  it  nmst  be  a  quar- 
ter of  a  century,  but  time 
flies  so  fast  with  us  that  it 
seems  but  as  yesterday.  There 
is  pleasure  in  contemplating 
such  a  past,  in  dreaming  over 
again   the    enjoyments,    and 
listening  to  the  voices  of  our 
youth — 

"  When  falling  on  our  weary  brain, 

Like  a  fast  falling  shower, 
The  dreams  of  youth  come  back  again ; 
Low  lisping  of  the  summer  rain, 
Dropping  on  the  ripened  grain, 

As  once  upon  the  flower." 

And  this  summer  evening,  with  its  calmness,  its 
quietude,  its  peace,  its  golden  sunset,  revives  again. 
Why  should  that  particular  evening  be  so  well  re- 
membered, and  so  many  others  forgotten  ?  It  was 
an  evening  "on  the  Broad." 

All  who  have  lived  in  Norfolk,  or  made  this 
county  the  scene  of  holiday  trips,  will  know  well 
enough  what  a  "  broad  "  is,  and  those  who  do  not 

]STo.  75. 


know  from  experience,  will  have  learned,  perhaps, 
from  some  such  a  book  as  Stevenson's  "Birds  of 
Norfolk."  A  few  there  may  be  who  do  not  know 
that  there  are  large  expanses  of  water,  small  lakes 
if  you  will,  though  shallow,  connected  with  the 
river  system.  Sometimes  they  are  beside  the  river, 
and  are  entered  by  a  "gatway,"  as  at  Wroxham ;  or 
they  are  expansions  of  the  river  itself,  as  at  Barton : 
in  either  case  it  is  the  water  of  the  river  which  has 
flowed  over  a  large  depressed  tract  of  land,  and 
permanently  converted  it  into  a  shallow  lake ;  not 
amid  the  mountain  scenery  such  as .  one  encounters 
in  "Wales  or  Cumberland,  but  with  nearly  a  level 
horizon  all  around,  in  the  midst  of  a  flat  or  slightly 
undulating  plain.  Be  not  uncharitable,  0  reader, 
to  hint  of  marshes  and  fens.  There  are  marshes, 
and  what  might  be  termed  fenny  districts,  but 
there  are  cornfields,  and  there  are  "broads."  In 
these  "  broads "  are  a  multitude  of  fishes,  and  on 
the  evening  in  question  we  did  "go  a -fishing." 
Strict  disciples  of  old  Izaak  would  have  despised 
us  for  our  lack  of  science,  but  not  for  our  want  of 
zeal ;  for  our  "  tackle "  perhaps,  but  not  for  our 
"take." 

It  often  surprised  the  "complete  angler"  to 
see  how  we  country  bumpkins,  in  our  plain  way, 
managed  to  beat  them  on  our  own  waters  in  the 
bulk  of  fish  taken.  At  least,  it  did  so  a  quarter  of 
a  century  ago;  they  may  have  discovered  the  secret 
since. 

Barton  Broad  is  long  and  narrow,  and,  taken  in 
conjunction  with  Irstead  Broad,  forms  a  consider- 
able expanse  of  water.  In  those  days  we  had 
rather  an  exaggerated  notion  about  it,  which  was 
pardonable,  and  considered  it  a  lake.    Since  then 

D 


50 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


we  have  seen  Bala,  and  become  humbled  as  to 
dimensions,  but  with  no  ardent  desire  to  forsake 
our  old  love.  It  may  be  from  association,  it  may 
be  from  some  other  hidden  reason,  but  we  love  the 
old  "Broad"  the  best.  In  the  middle  of  the 
"  Broad  "  is  a  flat  artificial  island,  about  fifty  yards 
square,  and  from  this,  in  two  opposite  directions,  a 
bank  of  reeds  extends  to  the  shore  separating  the 
two  broads.  In  later  times  the  bank  of  reeds  has 
been  kept  cut  down,  so  that  the  broads  are  con- 
tinuous ;  but  in  those  days  there  were  only  three 
openings  or  gaps  through  which  boats  passed,  and 
these  were  the  channels,  or  deepest  part  of  the 
Broad.  So  shallow  are  some  parts  that  these  chan- 
nels are  indicated  by  posts  at  short  intervals,  in 
order  that  wherries  and  other  large  boats  may  not 
run  aground.  On  the  evening  in  question,  we  were 
moored  in  a  very  comfortable  rowing-boat  at  one  of 
these  gaps  to  which  allusion  has  been  made.  It 
was  a  comfortable  boat  for  our  purpose,  that  is,  it 
was  broad  and  flat,  not  very  swift,  but  very  steady. 
There  were  two  or  three  of  us,  well  equipped,  as 
we  always  were,  for  the  occasion,  with  something 
to  eat,  plenty  to  drink,  and  a  satisfactory  supply  of 
"the  weed."  An  angler  not  addicted  to  smoking 
is  a  pitiable  object;  but  such  were  none  of  us.  This 
county  is  well  remembered  for  its  hospitality  and 
its  stanch  fare.  A  day's  fishing  on  the  Broad  was 
always  provided  for  on  the  most  liberal  scale  by  the 
presiding  genius  of  these  excursions.  By  a  merci- 
ful dispensation,  the  demands  upon  our  attention 
by  the  finny  tribe  seem  to  have  corresponded  in  an 
inverse  ratio  with  the  demands  of  our  stomachs. 
The  fish  became  indolent  between  the  hours  of 
twelve  and  three,  and  we  were  usually  "sharp  set" 
at  about  the  same  period. 

The  onslaught  upon  sandwiches,  hard-boiled  eggs, 
and  "  home-brewed "  was  alarming  on  such  occa- 
sions. How  thoroughly  we  enjoyed  these  al  fresco 
dinners,  is  also  a  thing  of  memory.  Of  course  there 
were  incidents  connected  with  these,  which  make 
some  special  occasions  more  memorable  than  others. 
One  above  the  rest  is  so  deeply  impressed  on  the 
memories  of  all  then  present  that  it  has  never  been 
forgotten.  The  thing  itself  was  not  a  miracle,  but 
it  would  be  folly  in  any  one  to  attempt  to  picture 
it,  as  it  still  lives  in  our  minds.  We  were,  as  usual, 
retired  to  a  shady  spot  for  our  purpose.  The  boat 
was  drawn  close  under  some  overhanging  bushes 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  a  short  distance  from  the 
Broad.  This  spot  is  known  as  Irstead  Shoals. 
There  are  some  cottages  a  few  yards  from  the  river, 
and  as  usual  they  contained  children  amongst  their 
inmates.  One  of  the  most  vigorous  of  our  party 
was  an  old  bachelor,  as  we  regarded  him  then,  and 
long  after,  of  eccentric  neatness,  and  a  scrupulous 
regard  that  everything  should  be  done  in  decency 
and  order;  if  a  fly  dared  to  alight  on  his  well- 
brushed  pants  without  permission,  it  certainly  dared 


not  to  stay  there.  "We  called  him  the  "  Abbot ;" 
it  might  have  been  from  his  celibacy,  or  from  his 
love  of  good  cheer,  yet  it  was  from  neither.  But 
thereby  hangs  a  tale. 

We  were  seated  comfortably,  lines  all  out  ready 
for    catching    a    stray    "nibble,"    and    dinner  in 
progress.   By-the-bye,  it  was  an  axiom  with  us  that 
if  nothing  had  troubled  us   for  an  hour  previous, 
there  would  certainly  be  fish  to  tantalize  us  during 
the  mid-day  meal,   and  if  any  were  caught,  the 
chances   were  greatly  in  favour    of   their   being 
"  bream,"  just  because  the  slimy  creatures  would 
compel  us  to  wash  before  the  meal  was  resumed. 
To  the  Abbot  this  was  a  consummation  not  de- 
voutly to  be  wished.     What  the  course  consisted 
of  on  the  occasion  in  question,  memory  does  not 
inform  us,  but,  in    the  midst  of    its  enjoyment,  a 
large  "  pat "  of  mud  came  flying  over  the  bushes 
behind  us,  and  settled  plump  in  the  middle  of  the 
Abbot's  plate.     Ye  gods  and  little  fishes,  what  an 
explosion !  Who  shall  venture  to  depict  the  consum- 
mation !     The  mischievous  little  urchin  made  the 
best  of  his  way  out  of  our  reach,  and  the  incident 
was  swept  iuto  our  dreams  for  ever. 

The  evening  in  question  was  a  beautiful  one,  the 
water  clear  and  smooth  as  glass ;  as  we  glided  over 
its  surface,  we  looked  down  upon  acres  of  the  water- 
soldier  {Strcdiotes  aloides),  not  half  a  yard  below, 
like  a  vast  pit  of  young  aquatic  pineapple  plants. 
It  is  a  curious  plant,  perfecting  its  flowers  and  be- 
coming fertilized  by  a  special  arrangement  in  the 
water.  And  what  a  delightful  shelter  it  afforded 
to  the  finny  denizens  of  this  miniature  forest.  Wher- 
ever there  is  a  bare  spot,  what  shoals  are  constantly 
passing  in  and  out  the  neighbouring  weeds;  but  woe 
to  him  who  attempts  to  angle  over  the  unresisting 
vegetation.  Some  parts  of  the  Broad  have  a  bottom 
of  bare  gravel,  others  of  black  oozy  mud,  which  gives 
no  uncertain  odour  whenever  it  is  disturbed,  and 
some  are  nearly  grown  up  to  the  very  surface  with 
weeds. 

It  was  after  five  o'clock  when  the  true  sport  of 
the  evening  commenced.  The  boat  was  moored 
head  first  to  a  post  at  one  of  the  "  gaps,"  nearest  to 
the  Barton  side,  the  stern  floating  out  into  the 
channel,  so  that  by  means  of  a  little  dexterity  we 
could  "throw  in"  close  up  to  the  reeds  and 
"boulders"  (Scirpics  lacustris).  Why  are  these 
long  rushes  called  boulders  ?  Never  mind  !  look  to 
our  business,  for  a  sharp  evening's  work  lies  before 
us.  As  we  lay  ready  for  action,  it  was  pleasant  to 
look  around  on  the  placid  water,  margined  on  all 
sides  with  reeds  and  rushes ;  beyond  these  were  alder 
bushes,  here  and  there  aspiring  to  be  called  trees. 
Behind  us  stood  the  imposing  tower  of  Barton 
church,  sharply  defined  against  the  sky ;  to  the  right, 
the  homely  little  church  of  Irstead  ;  to  the  left,  far 
away,  on  rising  ground,  the  tower  of  Staltham  church; 
and  from  before  us  came  the  merry,  merry  peal  of 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


51 


Catfield  bells,— four  churches  nearly  placing  us  in 
the  centre  of  a  cross ;  but  to  none  of  these  did  we 
owe  so  much  at  such  a  time  as  the  latter.  To  hear 
the  music  of  these  evening  bells,  "by  distance 
mellowed  o'er  the  waters  sweep,"  is  enough  to 
recall  nowadays  many  happy  hours,  when  we  listened 
to  them  in  the  heyday  of  youth,  before  care  had 
marked— never  mind ! 

Our  rods  for  boat-fishing  were  light  walking-stick 
rods,  ending  in  a  braided  silk  line,  with  light  swan's 
quill  float ;  and,  oh !  tell  it  not  in  Cockney-land,  a 
pair  of  hooks  dangling  at  the  end.  It  requires  a 
little  practice  to  throw  a  pair  of  hooks  just  up  to  the 
edge  of  the  weeds,  within  two  or  three  inches  of 
them,  or  into  a  bare  spot,  apparently  not  much  larger 
than  a  hand-basin,  and  not  catch  the  reeds  instead 
of  fish.  To  hook  well  into  a  reed  in  the  midst  of 
good  sport  is  no  joke;  you  may  tug  and  manoeuvre  to 
your  heart's  content,  and  have  no  sign  of  clearing, 
unless  by  leaving  the  hook  behind,  until  at  last,  in 
desperation,  the  boat  is  quietly  dropt  down,  and  the 
release  accomplished.  Of  course  no  sport  follows 
for  some  time.  What  sport?  Why,  catching 
"roud"  to  be  sure !  Just  such  a  quiet  evening,  of 
all  others,  is'  the  time  to  make  a  good  bag  of  this 
fish.  It  is  the  "  rudd,"  or,  as  locally  called,  the 
"roud"  [Cyprinus  eryophtJiahmcs).  The  edge  of  a 
reed  bank  is  their  delight,  as  well  as  a  calm  evening, 
when  they  will  swim  out  and  in  amongst  the  reeds, 
knocking  against  them  as  they  pass,  so  that  all  the 
reeds  seem  to  be  trembling  in  unison.  They  are  a 
beautiful  fish,  with  their  golden  sides  and  crimson 
fins,  especially  when  just  fresh  from  their  native 
element.  We  seldom  had  more  than  ten  or  twelve 
inches  of  foot-line  between  the  hooks  and  the  float ; 
one  hook  hanging  an  inch  or  two  below  the  other, 
each  baited  with  a  ragged  scrap  of  worm.  Roach 
often  float  amongst  them,  so  that  a  stray  roach  or 
two  comes  in  with  every  score  or  two  of  rudd. 
Their  bite  is  so  distinct  that  it  is  quite  sufficient  for 
determining  to  which  species  the  fish  belongs.  With 
roach  the  float  goes  bob-bob-bob,  straight  up  and 
down ;  but  directly  a  rudd  touches  the  bait,  off  he 
swims  with  it  into  the  reeds,— the  float  is  sloped  at 
an  angle  of  45°  and  glides  off.  Two  at  a  time,  over 
and  over  again,  up  they  come,  as  fast  as  we  can  work, 
hour  after  hour  till  it  is  deep  into  the  night.  Some- 
times the  merest  shred  of  sodden  skin  of  worm 
conceals  the  tip  of  the  hook,  but,  no  matter,  it  is 
taken,  and  again  they  rise  in  pairs.  The  sun  is  fast 
sinking  when  the  sport  begins,  and  gradually  the 
gloom  deepens,  until  at  length  it  is  impossible  to  see 
our  floats  as  we  stand  ;  so  we  crouch  down  to  get 
them  sideways  or  to  bring  them  into  the  reflection 
of  some  lighter  part  of  the  sky ;  two  or  three  of  us 
crouching  together  at  the  stern  of  the  boat, 
constantly  whipping  in  the  garnished  hooks,  and 
whipping  out  the  golden  rudd.  It  was  not  always 
that  we  could  secure  such  sport,  but  we  have  done 


so  on  more  than  one  occasion.  Who  could  think 
of  time,  or  even  of  the  "  eternal  pipe,"  under  such 
circumstances.  At  length,  unable  to  see  the  floats 
by  any  effort,  we  trusted  awhile  to  the  tug  at  the 
end  of  the  line,  and  many  a  good  fish  was  the 
reward  of  our  labour.  "And you  call  that  angling?'' 
half  inquires  some  very  scientific  brother  of  the 
craft.  "Call  it  what  you  please,"  is  our  only  answer; 
"we  caught  the  fish,  and  we  thoroughly  enjoyed  it, 
and  you  could  do  no  more." 

In  all  seriousness  this  was  a  remarkable  evening 
"  on  the  Broad."  As  we  prepared  to  draw  off  for 
the  night,  we  heard  the  distant  oars  of  friends 
coming  off  in  boats  in  search  of  us.  Alarm  had  been 
taken  at  home  on  account  of  the  lateness  of  the 
hour;  it  was  believed  that  something  serious  had 
happened,  since  it  is  quite  possible  to  be  drowned, 
and  very  easily  too,  "on  the  Broad." 

The  fish,  which  had  been  cast  into  the  bottom  of 
the  boat  as  they  were  caught,  had  to  be  gathered 
up,  but  it  was  too  dark  to  see  them.  By  dint  of 
feeling,  the  majority  of  them  were  stowed  in  baskets, 
and,  when  we  reached  the  shore,  we  bore  them 
between  us,  slung  to  a  pole  and  carried  on  our 
shoulders.  How  many,  or  what  weight  there  was, 
no  one  can  tell  with  exactitude ;  but  there  is  a  faint 
recollection  that  when  counted  out  by  candlelight, 
the  number  was  about  three  hundred,  some  a  few 
ounces,  and  many  from  three-quarters  of  a  pound 
to  a  pound  in  weight,  and  only  three  rods  had  been 
at  work,  for  not  more  than  three  hours.  As  we 
rowed  off  joyfully,  singing  "  Row,  brothers,  row," 
we  did  not  feel  at  all  disposed  to  quarrel  with  any- 
body. Old  "  Snuffers "  himself  would  have  been 
treated  with  affection,  instead  of  grim  condemnation. 
After  a  good  day's  sport  your  true  angler  is  one  of 
the  best-humoured  of  all  "jolly  good  fellows." 

And  thus  ended  our  evening  "on  the  Broad." 
Let  'no  one  condemn  us  for  cherishing  this  vision 
of  the  past  in  our  heart  of  hearts,  as  one  of  the 
pleasant  reminiscences  of  youthful  days.  There  is 
pleasure  to  be  derived  from  such  dreams,  and  even 
the  realities  of  our  present  days  may  in  the  future 
give  us  occasion  for  dreams.  It  may  be  that  these 
dreams  will  excite  pleasurable  emotions,  Or  it  may 
be  painful  ones.  Much  depends  on  the  contrast 
which  after-years  may  afford  to  the  present.  Ask 
an  old  naturalist  to  cull  from  his  memory  scenes  of 
his  most  robust  enjoyment  in  the  past,  and  it 
seems  to  us  exceedingly  probable  that  some  country 
excursion,  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  hospitality  of  a 
friend,  will  give  the  most  vivid  dreams.  Cockneys 
think  that  moors,  and  fens,  and  broads  must  be 
dreary  places  for  a  man  to  withdraw  into  for  enjoy- 
ment ;  and  so  they  would  be  to  the  despondent 
and  melancholy ;  but,  in  the  vigour  of  health  and 
in  good  companionship,  and  with  a  purpose  withal, 
to  furnish  occupation,  commend  us  to  a  day  "  on 

the  Broad." 

D  2 


52 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


SEA-FANS. 

By  Major  Holland,  R.M.L.I. 

"pLINY  appears  to  have  been  the  first  writer  who 
-'-  published  anything  about  these  zoophytes  : 
having  mistaken  them  for  mineral  trees,  he  named 
them  Gorgon'ue,  after  those  alarming  young  ladies 
whose  snaky  locks  turned  all  beholders  into  stone. 
We  have  lately  seen  some  astounding  tilings  in 
the  way  of  chignons ;  seaweeds,  beetles,  creeping 
things,  and  fowls  of  the  air,  have  been  fastened 
about  the  heads  of  fair  ladies,  often  with  marked 
effect ;  but  a  coiffure  a  la  Gorgone,  even  in  these 
sensational  times  would  petrify  everybody  with 
astonishment;  "a  sweet  thing  in  vipers,"  or  "a 
recherche  production  in  asps,"  may,  however,  one 
of  these  days  be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of 
a  discriminating  public  by  some  enterprising 
Mantalini. 

From  the  time  of  the  great  Roman  naturalist, 
who,  by  the  way,  was  an  admiral  "on  active 
service  and  full  pay,"  commanding  the  squadron 
at  Misenum,  when  his  devotion  to  the  pheno- 
mena of  volcanic  eruptions  cost  him  his  life,  a.d.  79, 
— little  or  nothing  was  said  about  them  until 
a.d.  1706,  when  Marsigli,  having  satisfied  himself 
that  they  were  not  arborescent  stones,  announced 
to  the  Academie  des  Sciences  de  Paris  that  they 
were  plants,  producing  flowers  which  expanded  in 
water,  but  closed  when  the  branch  was  exposed  to 
the  air. 

The  French  claim  for  a  Frenchman,  Peyssonel, 
medecin-botaniste  du  JRoi,  the'sole  and  entire  honour 
of  having  first  discovered  and  demonstrated  their 
animal  nature.  Peyssonel  came  across  them  while 
studying  the  marine  flora  of  the  coasts  of  Provence 
and  Barbary.  The  Museum  of  Natural  History  of 
Paris  possesses  the  manuscript  of  his  "  Traite  du 
Corail"  written  a.d.  1727,  in  which  corals,  mad- 
repores, lithophytes,  and  sponges  are  discussed. 
He  shows  that  the  zoophytes  are  "  des  agregations 
d'animaux"  and  compares  them  to  the  " orties 
de  mer,"  whose  nature  was  then  fairly  under- 
stood. Let  us  read  the  account  of  his  first  experi- 
ment upon  them  in  his  own  words : — "  J'avais  le 
plaisir  de  voir  remuer  les  pattes,  ou  pieds,  de  cette 
ortie ;  et  ayant  mis  le  vase  plein  d'eau,  oil  le  corail 
etait,  pres  du  feu,  tous  ces  petits  insectes  s'epanou- 
irent.  Je  poussai  le  feu  et  je  fis  bouillir  l'eau,  et  je 
les  conservais  epanouis  hors  du  corail ;  ce  qui  arrive 
de  la  meme  facon  que  quand  on  fait  cuire  tous  les 
testaces,  tant  marins  que  terrestres."  This  remark- 
able manuscript,  though  never  published  in  France, 
appeared  in  "  Philosophical  Transactions,"  a.d.  1756. 
This  production  of  the  medical  botanist  of  "  Louis- 
le-bien-aime"  was  followed  by  the  valuable  memoir 
of    Cavolini,    "  di    Polipi   marini"    published    at 


Naples  a.d.  17S5,  and  still  quoted  as  authoritative 
by  writers  of  the  present  day. 

There  are,  perhaps,  but  few  among  us  who,  using 
the  microscope  either  as  a  scientific  instrument  or 
as  a  toy,  cannot  boast  of  the  possession  of  a  well- 
mounted  slide  or  two  neatly  labelled  "  Gorgonia 
Spicules ";  some  of  us  have  followed  Marsigli's 
lead,  and  have  been  satisfied  that  they  are  vegetable 
productions  allied  to  raphides,  which  they  some- 
what resemble,  and  very  few,  indeed,  can  possibly 
have  seen  the  animals  themselves  in  their  legitimate 
habitat.  The  bibliography  of  the  order,  though 
very  extensive,  is  imperfect  and  unsatisfactory, 
widely  scattered  about  in  isolated  disconnected 
papers,  straggling  here  and  there  through  half  a 
waggon-load  of  books  altogether  out  of  the  reach 
of  ordinary  mortals.  The  Gorgoniadce  everywhere 
inhabit  deep  water,  and  abound  in  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  especially  in  the  warm  seas  of  the  West 
Indies  and  of  the  Malabar  coast.  In  our  chilly 
waters  they  are  comparatively  scarce  ;  five  species 
only  have  been  admitted  into  our  catalogue  in 
"Johnston's  British  Zoophytes,"  the  best  mono- 
gram, probably,  on  the  subject.  The  right  of  two 
of  these  species  to  claim  our  nationality  is  some- 
what doubtful ;  of  the  remaining  three,  one  only, 
6?.  verrucosa,  is  at  all  common  ;  the  others  are  more 
or  less  rare  ;  rarer  still  are  the  energetic  individuals 
possessed  of  means  and  opportunity  who  take  the 
trouble  to  go  and  fish  them  up  alive ;  and  rarest  of 
all  are  the  specimens  which,  after  having  been 
brought  up  from  the  mermaids'  gardens,  will  con- 
sent to  live  long  enough  to  allow  anybody  to  observe 
them  thoroughly.  The  shrivelled,  wizened,  dried- 
up  mummies  brought  home  by  sailors  "  from  furrin 
parts,"  and  sold  by  them  to  the  Jews  and  curiosity- 
shops,  have  nearly  always  lost  their  natural  colours 
and  assumed  others ;  the  fleshy  covering  has  dried 
up  into  a  friable  crust  upon  the  horny  stem,  and 
crumbles  into  dust  beneath  the  fingers  ;  shrunk 
and  withered,  they  bear  no  more  resemblance  to 
the  living  "  animal-flowers  "  than  the  "Rigwoodie 
hags"  of  Tarn  O'Shanter  to  the  Queen  of  Sheba. 
We  have  dredged  up  some  of  the  gayest  and 
brightest  of  them  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal ;  we  have 
seen  them  brought  up  by  the  pearl-divers  in  Ceylon, 
and  by  the  Malay  trepang-divers  of  Singapore. 
The  trepang,  or  Biche-de-mer,  which  forms  an  im- 
portant article  of  export  from  the  "  Straits  Settle- 
ments "  to  China,  preys  upon  the  fleshy  coat  of 
the  sea-fans  and  corals,— at  any  rate,  pieces  of 
the  branches  are  almost  invariably  found  in  its 
stomach. 

In  the  hope  of  helping  some  of  our  readers  to 
appreciate  more  truly  the  specimens  in  their  cabi- 
nets, and  of  directing  others  to  higher  sources  of 
information,  we  have  attempted  to  patch  together 
a  few  scraps  and  odds  and  ends  of  notes  respecting 
them. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. ' 


53 


Fig.  24.  Gorgonia  pinnata,  x  3.     After  Forbes. 

The  Gorgoniadce  have  been  classified  under  the 
head  Polypi/era  by  Lamarck,  and  are  placed  in 
the  sub-class  Corallaria  by  Milne-Edwardes :  our 
own  countryman,  Dr.  Johnston,  in  the  work  we 
have  cited,  places  them  in  the  order  Antlwzoa  As- 
teroida,  where  they  occupy  a  place  between  the 
Pennatulidce,  or  "  sea-pens,"  and  the  Alcyonidce,  or 
"  dead  man's  fingers."  The  popular  name  of  "  Sea- 
fans  "  is  given  by  fishermen  to  the  flat-growing 
species  of  Gorgonia,  such  as  G.flabellum,  sometimes 
called  "Venus's  fan";  while  the  bushy-branched 
varieties  of  the  order  are  called  by  them  "Sea- 
shrubs." 


Ray,  in  his  ".Wisdom  of  God  in  Creation,"  p.  77, 
says,  "  Those  plants  that  grow  deepest  in  the  sea  all 
generally  grow  flat  in  manner  of  a  fan,  and  not  with 
branches  on  all  sides  like  trees ;  which  is  so  con- 
trived by  the  providence  of  nature,  for  that  the 
edges  of  them  do  in  that  posture  with  the  most  ease 
cut  the  water  flowing  to  and  fro ;  and  should  the 
flat  side  be  objected  to  the  stream,  it  would  soon  be 
turned  edgewise  by  the  force  of  it,  because  iu  that 
site  it  doth  least  resist  the  motion  of  water ;  whereas, 
did  the  branches  of  these  plants  grow  round,  they 
would  be  thrown  backward  and  forward  every  tide. 
Nay,  not  only  the  herbaceous  and  woody  submarine 
plants,  but  also  the  lithophytes  themselves,  affect 
this  manner  of  growing,  as  I  have  observed  in 
various  kinds  of  coral  and  pori."  The  term  "  litho- 
phyte  "  is  now  applied  to  those  animals  only  which 
possess  a  hard,  stony  axis,  generally  composed  of 
carbonate  of  lime.  The  term  keratophyte  (.Kipag, 
horn,  and  <j>vtov,  plant)  has  been  more  recently 
adopted  for  those  with  horny  flexible  stems,  such  as 
the  Sea-fans.  Iu  Isis  Hippuris  (fig.  31),  the  central 
axis  is  alternately  composed  of  horny  and  calcareous 
substances,  exhibiting  masses  of  the  latter  united 
at  intervals  by  a  flexible  material,  allowing  the  stem 
to  bend  freely  in  Jevery  direction :  "  The  object  of 
such  diversity  in  the  texture  of  the  polypary  of  the 
Corallida  will  be  at  once  apparent  when  we  consider 
the  habits  of  the  different  species  :  the  short  and 
stunted  trunks  of  corallium,  composed  of  hard  and 
brittle  substance,  are  strong  enough  to  resist  the 
injuries  to  which  they  are  exposed  ;  but  in  the  tall 
and  slender  stems  of  Gorgonia  m&Isis,  such  brittle- 
ness  would  render  them  quite  inadequate  to  occupy 
the  situations  in  which  they  are  found,  and  the 
weight  of  the  waves  falling  upon  their  branches 
would  continually  break  in  pieces  and  destroy  them. 
This  simple  modification,  therefore,  of  the  nature 
of  the  secretions  with  which  they  build  up  the  ske- 
leton which  supports  them,  allows  them  .to  bend 
under  the  passing  waves,  and  secures  them  from 
otherwise  inevitable  destruction." 

Erom  the  reticulated  framework  of  the  typical 
fan  of  Gorgonia  flabellum,  we  pass  on  to  other  forms, 
in  which  by  degrees  all  trace  of  outward  resem- 
blance to  the  popularly-named  species  is  lost.  The 
general  outline  of  Gorgonia  placonms  is  flattish,  its 
branches  are  disposed  in  a  dichotomous  order,  but 
though  they  incline  towards  each  other,  they  rarely 
unite  and  form  a  network.  Li  Gorgonia  verrucosa, 
the  most  abundant  of  our  British  species,  the 
general  outline  is  somewhat  fan-shaped,  but  there 
is  no  approach  to  reticulation. 

In  Gorgonia  pinnata  (fig.  24)  it  requires  a  con- 
siderable effort  of  the  imagination  to  trace  any 
resemblance  to  a  fan. 

In  the  French  example  Gorgone  verticillaire 
(fig.  26),  in  which  the  polypes  are  arranged  round 


54 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


.*$$&■ 


«% 


of 


Fig.  25.  The  Common  Sea-fan  (Gorgonia  ftabellum),l  nat.  size.    After  Johnston. 


Fig.  26.   Gorgone  verticillaire,  x  3. 


the  branching  stems  like  the  leaf-whorls  of  a"verti- 
eillate  plant,  we  part  with  the  fan  model  altogether  : 
this  last  looks  so  much  like  a  Sertularia  that  but 
for  the  high  authority  of  the  French  author  we 
should  have  doubted  if  it  really  ought  to  be  classi- 
fied as  a  Gorgonia  at  all. 

The  Sea-fans  are  compound  polypes,  and  to  render 
the  plan  of  their  construction,  and  the  nature  of 
their  being,  intelligible  to  our  junior  readers,  we 
must  take  a  glance  first  of  all  at  a  solitary  simple 
polype,  and  then  pass  on  to  the  composite  forms. 
Most  of  them  are  no  doubt  familiar  with  the  com- 
monest of  all  polypes,  the  "  naked,  free,  solitary  " 
Hydra  viridis,  and  they  have  perhaps  heard  how  it 
multiplies  by  "  gemmation."  Erom  the  body  of  the 
founder  of  the  family  little  bud-like  processes 
sprout,  "  which  are  soon  observed  to  resemble  the 
parent  in  character,  possessing  a  digestive  sac, 
mouth,  and  tentacula ;  for  a  long  time  their  cavity 
is  connected  with  that  of  the  parent,  but  at  last  the 
communication  is  cut  off  by  the  closure  of  the  canal 
of  the  footstalk,  and  the  young  polype  quits  its 
attachment  and  goes  in  quest  of  its  own  main- 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  IEN  CE-GOS  SIP. 


tenance,"  like  a  creditable  self-reliant  young  fellow, 
who  scorns  to  be  a  burden  on  the  old  folks ;  but 
there  are  sometimes  idle,  improvident,  shameless 
young  polypes,  who  do  not  care  to  face  the  world 
and  battle  for  themselves  independently,  and  who, 
although  they  catch  everything  that  comes  in  their 
way,  still  remain  on  the  parent  stem,  communicating 
with  the  paternal  canal,  "  bleeding  the  governor," 
no  doubt  they  would  say  in  their  slangy  way,  if  they 
could  speak;  and  not  content  with  thus  loafing 
about  at  home,  they  even  have  the  barefaced 
impudence  to  start  buds  and  commence  families  ;  so 
that  the  poor  old  gentleman,  "  Virgregis  ipse  caper," 
is  made  a  grandpapa  without  being  consulted,  and 
burdened  with  the  weight  of  three  generations  ("  as 
many  as  nineteen  young  Hydree  have  been  thus  con- 
nected with  a  single  original  stock")];  but  although 
poor  old  Paterfamilias  must  find  them  a  heavy  drag, 
and  they  must  try  the  strength  of  his  hydrorhiza 
considerably,  he  has  not  got  to  feed  them ;  each 
polype  is  furnished  with  a  set  of  tentacula  and  a 
digestive  sac,  and  fishes  for  itself.  "We  regret  to 
say  that  some  most  discreditable  cases  have  been 
recorded,  in  which  highly  unbecoming  scuffles  have 
taken  place  for  the  possession  of  morsels  of  food, 
"  nor  is  it  an  unusual  thing  to  behold  the  young  one 
and  the  old  one  struggling  for  and  gorging  the 
different  ends  of  the  same  worm  together."  This 
squabbling  is  the  more  inexcusable,  because  it 
matters  not  in  the  end  which  of  them  swallows  it, 
for  the  nutriment  extracted  from  it,  in  whichever 
stomach  digested,  circulates  through  the  intercom- 
municating canals  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole 
family,  "  as  appears  beyond  dispute  by  the  swelling 
of  either  when  the  other  is  fed." 

Trembley  observed  the  remarkable  fact,  that  the 
digestive  powers  of  the  Hydra  had  no  influence 
over  the  tissues  of  its  own  body,  and  he  has  given 
an  instance  of  unmannerly  greediness  on  the  part  of 
one,  that  is  even  more  melancholy  than  that  just 
related  : — "  On  one  occasion  two  Hydra  had  both 
seized  on  the  same  prey,  and  were  contending  for 
the  possession  of  it ;  one  of  them  decided  the  contest 
by  swallowing  the  subject  of  dispute  and  his  rival 
into  the  bargain.  Naturally  supposing  that  the 
death  of  the  swallowed  polype  would  be  the  result 
of  such  an  apparently  tragical  termination  to  the 
dispute,  Trembley  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  see 
the  successful  polype  disgorge  his  antagonist  safe 
and  uninjured  along  with  the  egestamenta  of  the 
meal,  and  to  all  appeai'ance  none  the  worse  for  its 
temporary  incarceration." 

Sooner  or  later,  however,  the  progeny  are  shaken 
off,  and  each  polype  becomes  a  free  and  separate 
individual.  This  mode  of  multiplying  appears  to 
prevail  during  the  summer  months  only;  there 
seems  to  be  an  analogy  between  these  animal-buds, 
thrown  off  in  the  manner  described,  and  the  leaf- 


buds  thrown    off    spontaneously    by  Bryophyllum 
calcinum  and  the  bulbiferous  lilies,  which  become 
perfect  separate  plants.    There  is  another  analogy 
between  these  lowly  animals    and  the  vegetable 
world :  the  Hydra  may  be  propagated  like  a  plant 
by   "  cuttings " ;  it  is  even  stated  by  competent 
observers,  who  declare  that  they  have  themselves 
ascertained  the  fact  by  experiment,  that  if  a  Hydra 
be  cut  into  a  dozen  pieces,  each  severed  atom  will 
in  a  short  time  throw  out  tentacula,  and  organize  a 
stomach,  and  become  a  polype  complete  in  all  its 
parts,  as  surely  as  the  "  slip  "  or  "  cutting  "   from 
shrub,  plant,  or  tree  will  strike  root  and  grow  into 
the   "alter  ego"  of  the  stem  from  which  it  was 
taken.    And  there  is  still  another  analogy  between 
this  humble  creature  and   "  the  fruit-tree  yielding 
fruit  after  his  kind,  whose  seed  is  in  itself,"  for,  in 
addition  to  the  two  modes  of  propagation  already 
mentioned,  it  is  endowed  with  a  third  :   in  the 
autumn    the    Hydra    generates    internal    oviform 
gemmules,  which  appear  as  spherical  lumps  bulging 
out  the  skin,  much  in  the  form  of  polype-buds  in 
their  first  stage.  "  The  ovum  here  is  seen  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  a  polygonally-shagreened  capsule,  the 
ovum  is    still    enclosed    within    another    capsule 
furnished  to  it  by  the  substance  of  the  body-walls, 
in  which,   between  the  endoderm  and  ectoderm, 
the  generative  products  are  developed."     These 
autumnal  ova-buds  (or  seed-pods)   are  deciduous, 
and  fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  water,  as  seeds  fall  to 
the  earth,  there  probably  to  remain  unchanged, 
until  the  warmth  of  the  welcome  spring  calls  them 
forth  into  life.    The  observation  of  these  ova  is  so 
difficult  as  to  be  almost  impossible :  if  they  have 
been  deposited  in  the  course  of  nature  in  a  pond, 
they  get  out  of  sight  and  out  of  reach,  and  are  lost 
to  us  ;  if  they  have  been  thrown  off  in  a  tank,  the 
unnatural  conditions  to  which  they  are  subject  are 
almost  sure  to  prove  fatal  to  them.    When  this 
autumn  laying  is  over,  and  the  reproduction  of  the 
species  has  been  thereby  provided  for,  the  life-task 
of  the  humble  Hydra  seems  to  have  been  wrought 
out ;  it  has  fulfilled  its  purpose,  it  has  answered  the 
end  for  which  it  was  designed,  and  it  sinks  down 
and  dies.    As  an  organized  being,  as  a  Hydra,  it 
dies,  and  is  dead  ;  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  substance 
of  which  the  body  was  made  and  fashioned  does  not 
die,  it  is  not  dissolved  into  its  elements,  it  retains  a 
life  of  its  own,  it  exists  as  a  gelatinous  amoeba-like 
living  mass,  perhaps  intended  to  be  used  for  the 
building  up  of  some  other  and  widely   different 
animal  body.     Can  it  be  possible  that  in  this  little 
lump  of  quivering  jelly,  lying  at  the  bottom  of  a 
glass  jar,  we  have  a  clue  to  the  origin  of  that 
mysterious  vitalized  matter  called  Bathyhius,  which 
is  said  to  be  spread  in  infinite  quantity  over  the 
vast  surface  of  the  ocean's  bed?    This  fact  con- 
cerning the  body  of  the  deceased  Hydra  was  com- 


5G 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


municated  to  us  by  a  professed  naturalist  of  great 
practical  experience,  who  has  studied  the  subject 
carefully. 


Fig-.  2".  HyilrjE  strides,  attached  to  the  roots  of  duckweed. 
After  Roesel. 


The  species  of  the  marine  Hydrozoa  most  nearly 
akin  to  the  fresh-water  Hydra  is  the  Tuhularia 
hidivisa  described  by  Sir  John  Dalyell  in  his  "  Re- 
markable Animals  of  Scotland." 

From  the  brief  sketch  we  have  given  of  a  "  naked, 
free,  solitary  polype,"  we  pass  on  to  a  compound 
form,  in  which  the  polypes  are  "protected  by  cells, 
developed  according  to  regular  patterns  from  a 
rooted  and  ramified  horny  tubular  polypary."  If 
we  picture  to  ourselves  a  common  Hydra,  which, 
instead  of  casting  off  its  polype-buds  in  the  regular 
way,  has  retained  Ihem  all,  with  all  their  buds,  and 
their  buds'  buds  for  a  dozen  generations,  all  attached 
to  and  communicating  with  each  other  by  their 
nutritive  canals,  we  shall  have  before  us  a  rude 
"archetype"  of  the  compound  Hydrozoa,  Hydroid, 
Hydriform,  or  Hydra-like  polypes. 

"  The  seas  which  wash  our  own  shores  "  (we  quote 
from  a  lecture  by  Professor  Owen)  "are  tenanted 
by  numerous  forms  of  minute  polypi,  having  essen- 
tially the  same  simple  organization  as  the  Hydra, 
but  which  are  protected  from  the  dense  briny  ele- 
ment by  an  external  horny  integument.  Now  these 
likewise  develop  new  polypes  by  gemmation ;  but 
as  the  external  crust  grows  with  the  growth  of  the 
soft  digestive  sac,  the  young  polype  adheres  to  the 
body  of  the  parent,  and,  by  successive  gemmations, 
a  compound  animal  is  produced.  Yet  the  pattern 
according  to  which  the  new  polypes  and  branches  of 
polypes  are  developed  is  fixed  and  determinate  in 
each  species ;  and  there  consequently  results  a  par- 
ticular form  of  the  whole  compound  animal  or  indi- 
vidual by  which  the  species  can  be  easily  recognized. 
This  compound  hydriform  polype-animal,  or  associ- 
ation of  polypes,  resembles  a  miniature  tree,  but 
consists  essentially  of  a  ramified  tube  of  irritable 


animal  matter  (m,  fig.  2S),  defended  by  an  external, 
flexible,  and  frequently  jointed  horny  skeleton  (a)  ; 
and  is  fed  by  the  activity  of  the  tentacula  {d),  and 
by  the  digestive  powers  of  the  alimentary  sacs  (g) 
of  a  hundred  polypi,  the  common  produce  of  which 
circulates  through  the  tubular  cavities  for  the  benefit 
of  the  whole  community. 


Fig.  28.  Diagrammatic  sketch  of  Campanularia  dichotoma. 
After  Owen. 


"  The  peculiar  external  horny  defence  prevents 
the  exercise  of  the  gemmiparous  faculty  from 
effecting  any  other  change  than  that  of  adding  to 
the  general  size,  and  to  the  number  of  the  pre- 
hensile mouths  and  digestive  sacs,  of  the  compound 
coralline.  It  is  equally  a  bar  to  spontaneous  fission; 
so  that  the  ordinary  phenomena  of  generation  by 
ova  or  germ-masses  are  more  conspicuous  in  the 
composite  than  in  the  simple  Hydrozoa.  At  certain 
points  of  these  ramified  polypes,  which  points  are 
constant  in,  and  characteristic  of,  each  species, 
there  are  developed  little  elegant  vase-shaped  or 
pod-shaped  sacs,  which  are  called  the  ovigerous 
vesicles,  or  '  ovicapsules.'  These  are  sometimes 
appended  to  the  branches,  sometimes  to  the  axilla;, 
as  at  h,  i,  k,  fig.  2S :  they  are  at  first  soft,  and 
have  a  still  softer  lining  membrane,  which  is  thicker 
and  more  condensed  at  the  bottom  of  the  vesicle  : 
it  is  at  this  part  that  the  ova  or  germs  are  developed 
(//),  and   for  some  time  these  are  maintained  in 


HARDWICKE'S    S  C  IE  NCE-GOSSIP. 


57 


connection  with  the  vital  tissue  of  the  polype  by  a 
kind  of  umbilical  cord  (k,  I).  In  all  the  compound 
Hydrozoa,  the  ovicapsules  are  deciduous,  and  Laving 
performed  their  functions  in  relation  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  new  progeny,  drop  off  like  the  seed- 
capsules  of  plants.  This  phenomenon  afforded  to 
the  early  botanists  an  additional  argument  in  favour 
of  the  relation  of  these  ramified  and  rooted  animals 
to  the  vegetable  kingdom."  The  modification  in 
the  growtli  of  the  coralline  to  form  the  ovicapsule, 
has  been  compared  by  Professor  Edward  Forbes 
with  that  "metamorphosis  in  flowering  plants  in 
which  the  floral  bud  is  constituted  through  the 
contraction  of  the  axis  and  the  whorliug  of  the 
individuals  borne  on  that  axis,  and  by  their  trans- 
formation into  the  several  parts  of  the  flower." — 
Vide  "  Annals  of  Natural  History,"  vol.  xiv.,  a.d. 
1S44. 

Erom  the  Hydra-like  compound  polypes,  with 
their  horny  external  skeletons,  we  pass  on  to  the 
class  with  internal  skeletons,  with  which  we  are 
more  immediately  concerned,  the  compound  An- 
thozoa  {iivQoQ,  a  flower ;  Z>S>ov,  an  animal).  "  Fixed, 
compound  polypes,  with  eight  pinnate  tentacles, 
retractile  in  cells  of  a  fleshy  substance,  strengthened 
by  calcareous  spicula,  and  supported  on  a  branched, 
calcareous,  firm  or  flexible  axis.  Genera,  Gorgonia, 
his,  Melittea." 

We  have  seen  how  the  poor  naked  solitary  Hydra 
stands  related  to  the  infinite  multitudes  of  all  the 
class  of  compound  creatures  made  more  or  less  after 
the  fundamental  idea  of  which  he  is  the  humble  ex- 
pression ;  so,  here  also,  as  the  starting-point  of  the 
myriads  of  the  Anthozoa  we  see  standing  in  analo- 
gous relation  to  them,  a  single,  solitary  animal- 
flower,  the  polype  Actinia,  the  homely  familiar  Sea- 
anemone.  The  unclad  Hydra  shows  no  symptoms 
of  the  sclerodermic  covering  (aicXijpbg,  hard,  dsp/ia, 
skin,  or  hide)  which  will  invest  the  composite  forms 
fashioned  more  or  less  after  his  image ;  nor  does 
the  soft  Sea-anemone  display  any  tendency  to  set 
up  the  chitinous,  horny,  or  calcareous  sclerobasis 
(o-fcX/jpoc,  hard,  fiaoiQ,  foundation),  which  forms  the 
axis,  the  mainstay  and  support  of  his  compound 
representatives  :  indeed,  the  thin  base-dise  or  foot 
of  the  common  actinia  is  as  fatally  vulnerable 
as  the  heel  of  Achilles,  while  the  other  parts  of 
his  body  may  be  cut  or  torn  with  comparative 
impunity. 

It  would  be  beyond  both  the  object  we  have  in 
view,  and  the  limits  of  our  space,  to  go  into  minute 
details  of  the  difference  in  the  modes  of  growth  and 
life  of  the  polypidoms  of  the  Hydrozoa  and  the  An- 
thozoa, but  we  hope  that  no  one  will  run  away  with 
the  impression  that  we  wish  to  convey  the  idea  that 
a  Sertularia  is  only  a  branching  Hydra  with  a  horny 
case  ;  and  that  Gorgonia,  and  the  rest  of  the  Antho- 
zoa,  with  their  skeletons    inside    their   ccenosarc 


(koivoc,  shared  in  common,  aafi,  flesh)  instead  of 
outside,  are  only  Hydrozoa  turned  outside  in :  we 
can  only  afford  to  speak  in  broad  general  terms ;  for 
exact  and  full  details  the  student  must  refer  to  such 
works  as  Johnston's  "  British  Zoophytes,"  Hincks's 
"Hydroid  Zoophytes,"  Couch's  "Fauna  of  Corn- 
wall," Owen's  "  Anatomy  of  the  Invertebrata,"  and 
the  writings  of  Van  Beneden,  Lister,  Dalyell,  Milne- 
Edwardes,  and  others.  Lister,  in  "Philosophical 
Transactions,  1834"  (quoted  by  Rymer  Jones, 
''General  Structure  of  the  Animal  Kingdom"), 
gives  a  very  full  account  (with  illustrations)  of 
the  development  of  the  Hydrozoa. 

To  many  people  these  books  are  almost  as  inac- 
cessible as  the  "  Rig  Veda "  of  the  Brahmans,  or 
the  "Tao-Te-King"  of  the  Chinese  sage  "Lao-tse  ";. 
yet  they  may  be  dear  lovers  of  Nature,  yearning 
with  earnest  longing  to  know  something  about  the 
miniature  sea-firs  and  sea -willows,  which  the  ocean 
throws  up  in  millions  at  their  feet;  so,  for  their 
benefit,  we  here  insert  a  long  extract  from  John- 
ston, on  the  growth  of  the  Polypidom  of  the  com- 
pound hydriform  polypes. 

"The  ripe  ovule  or  bud  discharged  from  its 
matrix,  settles,  and  fixes  itself  to  the  site  of  its 
future  existence  by  minute  fibres  which  pullulate 
from  the  under  side,  while  from  the  opposite  pole 
a  papillary  cone  shoots  up  to  a  height  determined 
by  the  law  which  regulates  the  peculiar  habit  of 
the  species.  The  upward  growth  is  then  arrested,, 
and  the  apex  becomes  enlarged  and  bulbous.  The 
structure  of  this  rudimentary  shoot  is  at  first  ap- 
parently homogeneous,  but  very  shortly  the  separa- 
tion between  the  sheath  and  the  interior  pulp 
begins  to  be  defined,  and  is  made  hourly  more  ap- 
parent by  the  pulp  retreating  inwards,  becoming- 
darker  and  more  concentrated.  That  portion  of  it 
in  the  bulbous  top  of  the  shoot  goes  on  to  further 
condensation  and  development ;  and  as  it  enlarges, 
so  in  proportion  does  the  horny  cuticle  that  covers 
it  expand  apace  until  it  has  gradually  evolved  into- 
one  or  two  cells,  which  are  still  closed  on  all  sides. 
The  dark  body  of  the  polype  is  apparent  through 
the  thin  and  transparent  parietes,  and  from  its 
superior  disk  there  are  now  to  be  seen  some  minute 
tubercles  or  knobs  protruding,  which  becoming 
insensibly  but  steadily  more  elongated,  constitute 
the  tentacula  of  the  polype,  now  nearly  ready  for  a 
more  active  life.  By  an  extension  of  development, 
or  by  a  process  of  absorption  not  well  understood, 
the  top  of  the  cell  is  at  length  opened,  the  polype 
displays  its  organs  abroad,  and  begins  the  capture 
of  its  prey ;  for,  unlike  higher  organisms,  it  is  at 
this  the  period  of  its  birth  as  large  and  as  perfect 
as  it  ever  is  at  any  subsequent  period,  the  wails  of 
the  cell  having  become  indurated  and  unyielding, 
and  setting  a  limit  to  any  further  increase  in  bulk. 
The  growth  being  thus  hindered  in  that  direction, 


58 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


the  pulp,  incessantly  increased  by  new  supplies  of 
nutriment  from  the  polype,  is  constrained  and  forced 
into  its  original  direction,  so  that  the  extremities  of 
the  tube,  which  have  remained  soft  and  pliant,  are 
pushed  onwards,  the  downward  shoot  becoming  a 
root-like  fibre,  and  the  upper  continuing  the  poly- 
pidom, and  swelling  out  as  before  at  stated  in- 
tervals, into  cells  for  the  development  of  other 
polypes." 

The  materia]  of  the  polypidom,  or  hard  sheath 
protecting  the  soft  pulpy  cceuosarc,  appears  to  be 
analogous  to  horn  or  condensed  albumen.  There  has 
been  much  disputing  about  the  relations  subsisting 
between  the  sheath,  the  ccenosarc,  and  the  polypes, 
as  to  which  produces  the  other,  and  whether  the 
three  are  more  or  less  independent  of  each  other. 
The  following  summary  is  given :  "  The  growth  of 
the  two  parts  (pulp  and  polypidom)  is  coetaneous, 
for  although  the  expansion  of  the  membrane  appa- 
rently precedes  that  of  the  pulp,  it  is  nevertheless 
dependent  on  the  growth  of  the  latter  for  its  ex- 
pansion, and  regulated  by  it :  there  is  but  one  life 
and  one  plan  of  development  in  the  whole  mass,  and 
this  depends,  not  on  the  polypi,  which  are  but  secon- 
dary and  often  deciduous  parts,  but  on  the  general 
fleshy  substance  of  the  body." 

In  the  Gorgoniadce,  instead  of  a  branching  ccenos- 
arc (m,  fig.  28),  and  individual  polypes  connected 
therewith  by  pedicels,  the  whole  being  encased  in  a 
horny  sheath,  we  find  on  the  outside  a  semi-carti- 
laginous vitalized  mass,  the  coenosarc  {a,  fig.  29) 
investing  a  central  axis,  the  sclerobasis,  of  a  horny 
material  (b,  fig.  29),  which  gives  stiffness  and  sup- 
port to  the  whole  structure.  The  eight-armed 
polypes  (<;)  are  neither  lodged  in  nor  attached  to 
this  internal  polypidom,  but  occupy  cavities  in  the 
external  ccenosarc,  communicating  with  the  latter 
and  with  each  other  only  by  means  of  the  canals 
which  run  through  the  whole  mass  for  the  purposes 
of  the  general  nutrition.  These  canals  appear  like 
dots  (d,  fig.  29). 


Fig.  29.  Transverse  section  of  Gorguniu  verrucosa,  x  5. 

We  have  seen  how  the  reproduction  of  the  species 
is  accomplished  in  the  Hydra  and  in  the  compound 
Hydrozoa;  but  in  these  Corallaria  we  have  no  mul- 
tiplication by  fission,  by  deciduous  buds,  or  by  me- 
dusiform.larvae  escaping  from  external  vase-shaped 
"  ovi-capsules  "  like  seed-pods.  The  depths  of  ocean 


have  hidden  from  our  inquiring  eyes  the  secrets  of 
the  babyhood  of  the  young  Gorgonia.  We  believe 
that  he  originates  from  an  egg  formed  somewhere 
on  the  inner  surface  of  the  lining  of  the  canal  under- 
neath the  abdominal  cavity  of  the  polype,  somewhat 
after  the  ovarian  plan  of  the  Sea-anemone,  the  Gor- 
gonia-polypes  being,  in  a  general  sense,  actiniform 
— the  Zoanthus,  with  its  creeping,  root-like  processes, 
reminding  us  of  the  mycelium  of  the  fungi,  being 
apparently  the  connecting  link  between  the  solitary 
Actinia  and  these  compound  forms.  But  the 
transformation  of  this  egg  into  the  sprouting 
zoophyte  has  not  been  observed  in  the  same 
satisfactory  and  conclusive  manner  as  the  birth 
and  growth  of  the  Hydrozoon,  the  story  of  which 
(borrowed  from  Johnston)  we  have  just  related; 
but  there  seems  to  be  every  reason  to  believe  that 
a  very  close  resemblance  exists  between  the  first 
stages  of  the  nascent  Hydrozoon  and  of  the 
Gorgonia. 

Some  of  the  Gorgonice  throw  out  branches,  which 
remain  separate— 67.  pinnata  (fig.  24),  for  example. 
In  others,  such  as  G.flabellum,  the  twigs  inosculate 
or  anastomose,  forming  a  network  reminding  us  of 
a  skeleton  leaf.  In  fig.  30  we  show  a  portion  of 
the  typical  Sea-fan,  magnified  sufficiently  to  exhibit 
the  circular  pits  in  the  ccenosarc  occupied  by  the 
polypes. 


Fig.  30.  Small  portion  of  Gorgonia  flabellum,  x  5. 


We  also  give  a  figure  (31)  of  Ms  hippuris,  in 
which  (a)  shows  a  portion  of  a  branch  covered  with 
the  ccenosarc  and  studded  with  polypes.  Below 
this  portion,  the  investments  have  been  removed, 
to  display  the  axis,  composed  of  alternate  joints 
of  (b)  horny,  and  (c)  calcareous  matter.    The  main 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


59 


branch  is  shown  in  vertical  section,  with  (e)  a  polype 
in  its  cellj'and  (d)  an  empty  cell. 


Fig.  31.  Isis  hippuris,  x  5,  vertical  section. 


"  The  structure  of  the  axis  of  the  Gm-goniada" 
says  Quekett,  in  his  "Lectures  on  Histology," 
"  has  been  the  subject  of  much  controversy.  Many 
authorities  consider  it  to  be  inorganic.  There  cau, 
however,  be  no  doubt  that,  although  the  polypes 
do  not  form  the  axis,  tbey  are  mainly  concerned  in 
preserving  its  vitality,  and,  as  long  as  the  polypes 
are  alive,  changes,  both  in  the  interior  and  on  the 
exterior  of  the  axis,  are  continually  going  on;" 
and  he  mentions  a  specimen  of  Gorgonia  flabell  urn, 
in  the  museum  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons, 
in  which  Nature  has  repaired  an  extensive  fracture, 
"  nearly  across  the  centre." 

In  some  species  the  axis  is  composed  of  con- 
centric laminae  of  brown  horn ;  others,  as  G.  spiralis 
(fig.  33),  show,  not  only  concentric  laminse  of  horn, 
but  a  number  of  large  radiating  lines,  which  look 
like  tubes,  but  are,  in  reality,  connected  with  the 
spines  seen  on  the  surface. 

In  G.  petechialis  (fig.  32)  it  is  chiefly  composed 
of  spicula,  so  arranged  as  to  leave  a  number  of 
large  canals,  which  run  from  one  end  of  the  axis  to 
the  other;  and  the  spicula  near  the  surface  are 
much  larger  than  those  in  the  centre. 

In  Melitcea  ochracea,  which  is  jointed  like  Isis 
hippuris,  the,  horny  matter  is  so  small  in  quantity 
as  only  to  suffice  to  hold  together  the  numerous 
spicula  of  which  the  calcareous  part  of  the  axis 
is  composed. 


In  Corallium  rubrum,  the  common  red  coral  of 
commerce,  the  axis  is  very  dense,  and  capable  of 
taking  a  high  polish ;  .but  there  is  abundant  evidence 
to  prove  that,  even  solid  as  it  is,  it  was  originally 
composed  of  spicula.  J 


Fig.  32.  Transverse  section  of  a  segment  of  axis  of 
Gurgonia  petechialis,  x  45.    After  Quekett. 


Fig.  33.  Transverse  section  of  a  segment  of  axis  of 
Gorgonia  spiralis,  x  45.    After  Quekett. 


The  "spicules"  of  our  cabinets  are  chiefly  ob- 
tained from  the  dried  crust  or  ccenosarc,  although 
they  abound  in  all  parts  of  the  zoophyte,  and  when 
carefully  selected  and  skilfully  mounted  they  are 
beautiful  objects  for  the  microscope  :  the  forms  are 
so  distinct  from  each  other  that  it  has  been  thought 
that  by  a  careful  examination  a  classification  of 
varieties  may  be  some  day  based  upon  them.  The 
figures  34  to  42  are  of  "  Gorgonia  spicules,"  drawn 
under  the  microscope  ( x  75)  from  a  superb  set 
prepared  by  Mr.  Cole,  of  St.  Domingo  Vale,  Ever- 
ton,  Liverpool,  which  will  shortly  find  a  suitable 
resting-place  amongst  the  treasures  of  the  Quekett 
Microscopical  Club. 


CO 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GO  S  SIP. 


Fig.  34.  Spicules  from  Gorgonia  fiabellum,  x  75. 


ju^y^^K^ 


Fig.  35.  Spicules  from  Gorgonia  verrucosa,  x  75. 


Fig.  36i  Spicules  from  Riphidogorgia  fiabellum,  x  75. 


Fig.  37.  Spicules  from  Acanthogorgia  Johnsoni,  x  75. 


Fig.  38.  Spicules  from  Leptogorgi     x  75. 


Fig.  39.  Spicules  from  Melithaa  coccinea,  x  75. 


Fig.  40.  Spicules  from  Homophyton  githago,  x  75. 


i? 


Fig.  41.  Spicules  from  Eunicea,  x  7 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


01 


Fig.  42.  Spicules  from  Prhnnna  verticulosa,  x  75. 


Mr.  Cole  gives  the  following  brief  and  simple 
receipt  for  preparing  and  mounting  these  spicules  : 
— "  Boil  in  strong  liquor  potasses  for  three  or  four 
minutes,  and  then  wash  repeatedly  in  distilled 
water  until  the  latter  passes  off  quite  colourless  ; 
then  mount  in  Canada  balsam  :  if  the  specimens  are 
to  be  mounted  dry  for  the  paraboloid,  make  a  cell 
of  the  proper  depth,  coat  the  inside  of  the  cell  with 
thin  gum-water  ;  when  this  is  dry,  breathe  on  it  to 
moisten  its  surface,  then  place  your  spicules  in  the 
cell,  turn  the  slip  over,  and  tap  the  back  so  as  to 
knock  out  any  that  may  be  loose  ;  put  on  your  thin 
cover,  and  all  is  done  but  asphalting  the  cell  and 
labelling  the  slide." 

"It  might  not  be  difficult,"  says  Dr.  Johnston, 
"  but  it  is  beyond  my  province,  to  trace  the  gradual 
increase  and  consolidation  of  these  spicula  through 
many  intermediate  species  to  the  horny  flexible  axis 
of  the  Gorgonia,  where  it  has  become  such  au  effi- 
cient support  to  the  whole  soft  envelope  as  to  claim 
not  improperly  the  name  of  its  skeleton  ;  thence  to 
the  stony  axis  of  the  coral  and  having  there  reached 
its  maximum  of  development,  I  might  on  the  other 
hand  have  marked  its  progress  towards  degene- 
ration until  it  became  again  only  a  partial  support, 
such  as  we  find  it  in  the  naked  middle  portion  of 
the  Pennatulidce,  more  especially  in  some  of  the 
foreign  and  less  typical  species  of  that  family." 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  British  Gorgoniadee 
from  the  work  of  the  author  last  mentioned. 

1.  Gorgonia  verrucosa,  somewhat  fan-shaped,  much 
and  irregularly  branched,  the  branches  cylindrical, 
fiexuous,  barked  when  dry  with  a  white  warted 
crust ;  segments    of   the    cells    unequal,    obtuse ; 


habitat  deep  water ;  abundant  along  the  whole  of 
the  south  coast. 

2.  Gorgonia  pinnata,  when  living,  a  little  thicker 
than  sewing  cotton,  of  a  cream-white  colour,  the 
polypes  white  with  dull  granular  pinnated  tentacles ; 
fouud  in  thirty  fathoms  water  in  the  Isle  of  Skye. 

3.  Gorgonia  placomus — has  been  mistaken  for  a 
coralline — of  a  reddish-brown  colour,  has  its  branches 
disposed  in  a  dichotomous  order  and  flatfish  form  ; 
they  bend  irregularly  towards  one  another,  but 
rarely  unite ;  very  rare,  ou  south  coast. 

4.  Gorgonia  auceps,  the  Sea- willow — Keratophy  ton 
dichotomum  ;  caule  et  ramulis  leviter  compressis  ; 
of  a  yellow-white  when  fresh,  drying  of  a  deep 
violet ;  found  only  in  deep  water,  and  very  rare. 

5.  Gorgonia  jlabellum,  the  common  Sea-fan,  has 
been  admitted  into  the  British  fauna  on  very 
insufficient  evidence. 

The  Primnoa  differs  from  the  Gorgonia  in  having 
a  hard  stony  axis,  approaching  to  that  of  the  true 
corals. 

Primnoa  lepadifera,  eighteen  inches  high  and  as 
thick  as  a  swan-quill ;  found  in  Shetland,  Norway, 
Lapland,  and  the  White  Sea  ;  crust  whitish,  covered 
with  pear-shaped  polype-cells. 

Isis  hippuris,  owes  its  name  to  the  resemblance 
it  bears  to  the  Equiseta,  mares-tails ;  is  found  on 
the  east  coast  of  Scotland  and  Orkney  Islands. 


Si 


Fig.  43.  Coral  polypes,  x  25  ("  tpanouis  a  des  degres  divers  "). 
After  Lacaze  Duthiers. 


The  Gorgoniadee  were  not  generally  believed  to 
be  luminous,  but  the  researches  of  the  men  of 
science  who  conducted  the  deep-sea  exploration  in 
H.M.S.  Porcupine,  in  i860,  show  that  those  dredged 
up  from  great  depths,  557  to  5S4  fathoms,  were 
brilliantly  phosphorescent :  "  The  Pennatulce,  the 
Virgularice,  and  the  Gorgonia>  shone  with  a  lambent 
white  light,  so  bright  that   it   showed  quite  dis- 


02 


HARDYVICKE'S    SC1EN  CE-GOSSIP. 


tinctly  the  hour  on  a  watch."  "The  question  of 
the  amount  and  the  kind  of  light  in  these  abysses 
was  constantly  before  us.  That  there  is  light  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  The  eyes  in  many  species  of  all 
classes  were  well  developed;  in  some,  very  remark- 
ably so.  It  is  scarcely  possible  that  any  appreciable 
quantity  of  the  sun's  light  can  penetrate  beyond 
two  hundred  fathoms  at  most."  "  It  seemed  to  us 
probable  that  the  abyssal  regions  might  depend  for 
their  light  solely  upon  the  phosphorescence  of  their 
inhabitants."  Here  is  a  new  thought  dragged  up 
for  us,  de  profundis,  from  more  than  a  thousand 
feet  beneath  the  surface  of  the  sea,  to  fill  us  with 
wonder  and  astouishment. 

.  The  wild  gales  that  sweep  over  our  coasts  in  this 
boisterous  month  of  March  will  disturb  even  the 
bed  of  the  ocean ;  and  the  lashing  waves,  for  ever 

battling  with  our  tall  cliffs,  and  grinding,  tearing, 
and  transporting  our  shingle-beaches  and  sands, 
will  throw  up  many  strangers  at  our  feet— creatures 
never  seen  in  calm  weather,  torn  up  from  below, 
and  carried,  perhaps,  hundreds  of  miles  by  ocean 
currents ;  perhaps,  a  Gorgonia  jiabellum  may  be 
brought  to  us  by  the  "  Gulf-stream " :  tons  of 
zoophytes  of  all  kinds  will  be  left  stranded  by  the 
spring  tides ;  and  who  knows  but  that,  amongst 
the  innumerable  forms  of  life  brought  home  to  us 
by  the  storms  of  the  vernal  equinox,  we  may  not 
pick  up  a  few  living  specimens  of  the  asteroid 
polypes  about  which  we  have  been  gossiping,  the 
Gorgonice,  the  creatures  furnishing  the  "  spicules  " 
of  our  microscopic  slides,  the  luminous  animal- 
plants  of  the  mighty  deep,  the  common  Sea-fans. 
Bury  Cross,  Gosport. 


MY   KESTREL. 

f\^  all  my  numerous  feathered  favourites,  none 
^  excite  my  admiration  so  much  as  the  Falcons, 
with  their  lofty  flights  and  long  graceful  swoops. 
Often  have  I  stood  on  the  green  hill-side  watching 
with  delight  one  sailing  away  through  the  clear  air, 
steadily  diminishing  in  size  till  it  appears  but  a 
mere  speck  against  the  sky,  till  at  last  sight  can 
follow  no  farther.  Unfortunately  for  the  naturalist, 
though,  perhaps,  fortunately  for  farmers  and  game- 
keepers, many  of  our  beautiful  raptores  are  becoming 
great  rarities  with  us.  As  to  the  larger  species,  it 
is  not  surprising  that  as  cultivation  and  civilization 
increase,  they  are  driven  farther  and  farther  away 
from  the  haunts  of  man,  to  seek  their  prey  in  wilder 
regions. 

Should  one  make  its  appearance  now,  it  is  pur- 
sued by  every  one  possessed  of  a  gun,  and  even 
then,  if  fortunate  enough  to  escape  its  numerous 
foes,  it  is  only  by  the  exercise  of  sucli  vigilance, 
that  the  saying  "as  wild  as  a  hawk"  only  expresses 


a  fair  amount  of  caution  on  its  part.  Of  course  it 
is  to  be  expected  that  the  agriculturist  would  be  in 
arms  against  the  invader  to  save  his  chickens  and 
ducklings  from  slaughter,  and  certainly  he  has  a 
fair  excuse  for  waging  deadly  war  against  the  Kites 
and  Sparrow-hawks  which  disturb  his  farmyard. 
But  if  he  would  be  content  with  the  destruction 
of  those  birds  alone,  and  leave"  the  rest  in  peace, 
it  would  be  quite  satisfactory;  but  with  a  sweeping 
denunciation  he  includes  the  whole  race  of  raptores 
among  the  "vermin"  he  has  some  cause  to  hate, 
and  thus  not  only  does  the  greatest  injustice  to  my 
little  friend  the  Kestrel,  but  in  fact  declares  war 
against  his  very  best  ally.  And  after  all  it  is  chiefly 
through  carelessness  or  obstinacy  that  he  persists 
in  his  folly. 

No  one  would  mistake  the  Kestrel  hovering  on 
the  wing,  and  watching  for  his  prey  beneath  him, 
for  the  Sparrow-hawk  or  Kite  sailing  and  swooping 
in  large  circles  round  the  farmyard,  looking  out  for 
a  chicken  or  small  bird.  The  effect  of  the  presence 
of  the  two  species  is  also  very  different.  On  the 
approach  of  the  Sparrow-hawk,  the  whole  yard  is 
in  an  ecstasy  of  fear  and  anger,  the  smaller  birds 
hiding  themselves  in  a  twinkling,  and  the  larger 
uttering  warning  notes,  and  preparing  for  the  foe. 
The  Kestrel,  on  the  other  hand,  passes  without 
notice:  small  birds,  indeed,  do  now  and  then  as- 
semble in  flocks,  and  chirp  defiance ;  and  not  long 
ago  I  saw  one  mobbed  by  a  large  flock  of  starlings. 

If  only  farmers  and  others  could  be  brought  to 
see  the  injury  they  do  themselves  for  every  Kestrel  s 
head  they  nail  to  their  barn-doors,  we  might  hope 
that  we  should  see  them  more  frequently  than  we 
do ;  for  although  they  are  oftener  met  with  than  any 
other  raptores,  there  is  reason  to  fear  their  numbers 
are  slowly  diminishing. 

But,  notwithstanding  his  numerous  enemies,  the 
Kestrel  still  keeps  close  to  man's  habitation,  know- 
ing that  his  chief  prey  is  found  there  rather  than  in 
less-cultivated  regions.  Probably  on  every  occasion 
he  hovers  over  the  farmer's  grass -land,  unless 
driven  off,  he  swoops  down  on  some  hapless  field- 
mouse  creeping  through  the  close-cut  grass ;  and 
knowing  from  experience  how  many  mice  each  bird 
can  devour  per  diem,  the  estimated  number  of  vic- 
tims demolished  per  annum  must,  I  am  convinced, 
amount  to  some  thousands.  These,  there  is  no  ques- 
tion, are  his  staple  food;  but  when  they  fail,  small 
birds,  lizards,  frogs,  and  coleoptera  are  very  accept- 
able ;  and  though  gamekeepers  are  apt  to  complain 
that  young  game  suffers  at  his  hands,  I  am  in- 
clined to  believe  that  the  amount  of  chickens,  young 
partridges,  and  pheasants  that  are  consumed  by 
them  may  be  estimated  at  nil. 

But  it  is  as  a  domesticated  pet  that  I  would  gos- 
sip of  the  Kestrel,  rather  than  as  we  find  him  at 
large.  In  a  state  of  captivity,  I  have  had  abundant 
opportunities  of  observing  his  instincts  and  idio- 


HABDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


63 


syncrasies,  and  find  how  closely  does  he  resemble 
his  raptorial  brethren  in  his  leading  characteristics. 
I  obtained  my  pet  in  June  last,  and  discovered  her 
sitting  disconsolately  with  her  brothers  and  sisters 
in  an  old  cage.  She  was  not  more  than  half-fledged, 
but  the  clown  in  which  she  was  encased  made  up  for 
her  want  of  clothing.  In  less  than  a  month  her 
plumage  became  superb,  and  has  continued  so  ever 
since,  with  the  exception  of  the  tail,  which,  being  too 
long  for  walking  purposes,  dragged  on  the  ground 
in  a  sad  state  of  dirt,  and  ultimately  had  to  be  docked 
for  appearance-sake.  During  the  summer  and  au- 
tumn she  resided  in  the  garden,  and  with  her  wing 
cut,  was  allowed  her  liberty,  while  any  of  the  family 
was  at  hand  to  keep  watch  over  her.  Being  very 
tame,  I  had  abundant  opportunities  of  studying  her 
peculiarities,  and  I  have  seldom  had  a  more  enter- 
taining or  versatile  companion.  Her  diet  consists 
of  ordinary  "  cat's  meat,"  relieved  by  raw  meat, 
mice,  birds,  and  insects.  Mice  are  undoubtedly  her 
favourite  food,  and  would  disappear  with  marvellous 
celerity,  without  the  slightest  vestige  being  left. 
Small  birds  she  rather  likes,  but  evidently  it  is  too 
much  trouble  to  pick  them  properly,  as  they  are 
generally  only  half-deplumed;  but  the  first  operation 
was  always  to  pick  out  and  devour  their  eyes.  In  the 
summer  she  bathed  regularly  once  a  day,  and  spent 
the  morning  preening  and  dressing  her  feathers. 
Insects  of  all  sizes  and  kinds  were  summarily  de- 
voured, and  I  have  more  than  once  captured  wing- 
less females  and  imperfectly-formed  moths  unable 
to  fly,  by  finding  her  dancing  round  them  in  their 
endeavours  to  escape,  and  with  a  gentle  nibble 
giving  them  a  hint  to  run  faster;  and  when  the 
poor  insect  was  too  maimed  or  exhausted  to  crawl 
farther,  the  sport  being  ended,  they  were  eaten 
without  further  delay.  Indeed,  she  appears  quite 
indignant  with  spiders,  because,  instead  of  hurrying 
off,  they  lie  down  and  curl  themselves  up.  It  is 
curious  to  observe  how  important  a  part  the  talons 
play  in  the  economy  of  this  bird.  Everything  is 
taken  up  and  examined,  and,  if  possible,  carried 
off.  The  bill  is  used  only  for  tearing  her  food ; 
and  with  the  notch  in  the  upper  mandible  which  is 
characteristic  of  the  true  Falcons,  she  can,  with  a 
scissor-like  action,  cut  through  very  hard  sub- 
stances. The  peculiar  position  of  the  legs,  which 
are  placed  very  forward  in  all  the  raptores,  is  very 
noticeable,  evidently  giving  the  bird  a  greater 
amount  of  leverage  to  assist  her  in  tearing  her 
meat,  which  she  holds  in  her  talons  and  pulls  in 
pieces  by  main  force.  But  the  talons  are  used,  to 
my  surprise,  almost  as  much  as  a  parrot's.  Even 
in  the  garden,  where  there  is  nothing  edible,  she 
amuses  herself  with  pouncing  on  a  stone  or  piece 
of  brick,  and  hobbling  off  with  it,  considering  it 
as  a  sort  of  prey ;  for  if  it  be  taken  from  her,  a 
terrible  noise  ensues.  Her  chief  weakness  is  her 
temper,  which,  when  ruffled,  is  none  of  the  sweet- 


est ;  and  as  fear  does  not  enter  into  her  com- 
position, it  takes  no  little  trouble  to  overcome  her. 
Screaming  at  the  top  of  a  very  shrill  voice,  she 
charges  at  my  hands,  clawing  and  scratching  like  a 
game-cock,  and,  as  may  be  imagined,  inflicting  most 
unpleasant  scars.  Indeed,  it  is  only  until  she  has 
been  upset,  rolled  over,  and  buffeted  for  some  little 
while,  that  she  thinks  discretion  the  better  part  of 
valour,  and  runs  away.  Her  great  antipathy  is  a 
cat ;  and  strange  pussies  which  have  endeavoured 
to  secure  her  as  a  prize,  by  stalking  up  quietly  for 
the  purpose,  are  met  with  a  very  warm  reception, 
and  generally  turn  tail  and  run  off  in  astonishment. 
My  own  cat  can  hardly  eat  anything  in  her  sight 
without  having  to  flee  to  avoid  bites  and  scratches; 
but  by  degrees  they  are  becoming  more  amicable. 

During  the  last  summer  weather  she  would  lie 
down  in  the  grass,  and,  spreading  her  wings,  bask  in 
the  fervent  rays  of  the  sun,  and  in  cold  weather  her 
weakness  is  to  sit  on  the  kitchen  fender  and  enjoy 
the  warmth  in  the  same  manner.  I  was  very  much  en- 
tertained at  some  sparrows  which  flocked  round  her 
while  engaged  in  sunning  herself.  Neither  of  them 
cared  for  the  other,  till  the  sparrows  came  so  close  as 
to  annoy  her ;  so  she  got  up  and  ran  after  them  to 
drive  them  off ;  but,  to  my  surprise,  they  paid  not  the 
slightest  notice,  but  hopped  away  as  unconcernedly 
as  possible,  taking  care  to  keep  just  out  of  her  reach. 
I  can  only  account  for  such  behaviour  by  their 
being  London  sparrows. 

She  seems  to  coincide  entirely  with  the  description 
given  by  different  authors,  except  that  while  Wood, 
Macgillivray,  Mudie,  and  others  describe  the  iris  as 
yellow,  in  her  it  is  a  dark  brown,  so  dark  as  to 
appear  black  unless  seen  in  a  strong  light.  The  bill 
is  of  a  light  grey  at  the  base,  growing  darker  at  the 
tip,  and  grows  fast,  as  she  fractured  it  at  the  tip 
some  time  ago ;  but  now  it  has  resumed  its  usual 
appearance,  without  a  trace  of  the  accident.  It  is 
considerably  larger  than  in  the  wild  specimens  I 
have  seen,  probably  because  in  captivity  there  is  not 
so  much  occasion  for  its  use  or  so  much  opportunity 
of  keeping  it  down. 

In  conclusion  I  would  recommend  those  who  have 
a  weakness  for  taming  birds  to  try  a  kestrel,  as  I 
feel  confident  they  will  find  it  a  most  entertaining 
and  pleasant  pet.  A.  6.  H. 


"  Birds  and  Flowers,"  by  Mary  Howitt,  illus- 
trated by  Giacomelli,  is  a  beautiful  gift-book,  pub- 
lished by  Nelson  &  Sons.  The  poetry  is  much  of 
it  familiar  as  household  words ;  but  the  exquisite 
little  woodcuts  and  the  style  of  getting  up  far 
surpass  the  previous  edition.  It  is  just  the  book 
for  a  true  lover  of  nature  as  well  as  of  art.  It 
contains  treasures  for  young  or  old,  suitable  for  all 
times  and  seasons ;  and  we  commend  it  to  our 
readers  as  just  the  book  that  will  please  them. 


64 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPIC    OBJECTS.* 

IT  is  always  a  pleasant  task  to  bestow  praise,  it  is 
seldom  a  welcome  one  to  find  fault.  Eidelity 
is  a  virtue  which  is  expected  when'  jndgment  is 
solicited,  and  if  the  verdict  is  not  agreeable,  the 
evidence,  and  not  the  judge,  is  to  blame,  if  he  is 
called  upon  to  decide  according  to  evidence,  and 
does  so  faithfully.  The  book  before  us  comes  with 
a  good  prestige  in  the  name  at  the  bottom  of  the 
title-page  ;  there  was  room  enough  for  a  good  book 
on  the  subject,  and  one  big  enough  for  the  purpose 
has  been  produced.  Acquainted,  as  we  are,  with 
the  splendid  microscopical  plates  of  the  brothers 
Tulasne,  and  in  our  own  country  with  the  work  of 
Tuffen  West,  it  was  not  too  much  to  hope  that  a  new 
work  on  microscopical  objects  would  possess  some 
of  the  artistic  merits  of  these  men.  Alas  !  that  we 
should  be  so  grievously  disappointed.  This  volume 
contains  just  two  hundred  figures  of  microscopical 
objects,  not  always  selected  with  the  most  judicious 
care,  seldom  executed  with  skill.  Eig.  13S  is  said  to 
be  the  "  Meadow  Blue  Butterfly."  {Polyommatus 
Alexis),  natural  size.  It  is  fortunate  that  the  letter- 
press is  opposite  to  the  figure,  or  the  lepidopterist 
would  fail  to  recognize  it,  although  it  is  of  the 
"natural  size."  We  will  not  stay  to  inquire  why 
this  and  some  other  figures  are  inserted  of  the 
"natural  size";  had  they  been  excellent  of  their 
kind,  we  would  have  forgiven  their  intrusion.  But 
what  can  we  say  of  some  that  are  not  of  the 
"  natural  size,"  except  that  they  are  very  unnatural  ? 
Let  our  readers  compare  for  themselves  the"  foot 
of  a  fly,"  fig.  155,  with  the  plates  of  the  feet  of 
insects  by  Tuffen  West,  in  the  "  Linnean  Trans- 
actions," or  the  well-known  "  tongue  of  blow-fly," 
lig.  151,  even  with  our  own  woodcut  in  an  early 
volume  of  this  journal,  and  pronounce  a  candid 
opinion.  We  venture  to  predict  that  it  will  not 
be  in  Mr.  Martin's  favour.  The  Anopleuria 
(figs.  163-165)  should  be  compared  with  the  figures 
in  Denny's  Monograph,  both  for  fidelity  and 
execution  ;  and  as  for  the  poor  spider  in  fig.  167, 
alas  !  poor  fellow,  we  pity'even  a  spider  so  badly  cari- 
catured. Some  of  the  figures  are  fairly  drawn,  but, 
on  the  whole,  they  are  the  coarsest  and  most  unsatis- 
factory for  delicate  microscopical  objects  that  we 
remember  to  have  seen.  If  we  gave  way  to  a 
captious  spirit,  we  might  take  exception  even  to  the 
letter-press,  but  will  rest  content  with  expressing 
our  very  great  disappointment,  and  recording  our 
sympathy  with  the  author  for  haviug  been  per- 
suaded to  venture  so  far  beyond  his  powers, 
neglectful  of  the  consequences  of"  vaulting  ambition 
that  o'erleaps  itself."  May  his  next  venture  be 
more  restricted  and  more  successful. 

*  "  Microscopic  Objects.  Figured  and  described  by 
John  H.  Martin,  Honorary  Secretary  to  the  Maidstone  and 
Mid- Kent  Natural  History  Society.     London  :    Van  Voorst." 


THE  HERMIT  CRAB. 

TN  order  to  observe  some  of  the  habits  of  the 
-*-  Hermit  Crab,  six  of  various  sizes  were  placed 
in  a  basin  of  salt-water.  At  first  they  appeared 
dissatisfied  with  their  artificial  abode,  but  they  soon 
gained  courage  to  peep  from  their  shells,  and  shortly 
afterwards  began  to  run  about  and  show  strong 
symptoms  of  a  very  pugnacious  disposition.  It  so 
happened  that  one  was  considerably  too  large  for  his 
shell,  for  he  could  not,  when  disturbed,  retreat  en- 
tirely inside,  as  the  others.  An  empty  shell  of  larger 
dimensions  was  put  into  the  basin,  when  he  imme- 
diately made  for  it,  evidently  with  the  intention  of 
availing  himself  of  a  change.  At  first  he  moved  it,  to 
see  if  it  was  empty ;  then  he  examined  it  all  over, 
thrust  his  nipper-claws  and  body  as  far  into  it  as 
possible,  to  ascertain  its  character  inside,  and  when 
he  had  satisfied/:  himself  on  all  points,  he  withdrew 
from  his  old  shell,  and  by  a  rapid  scientific  movement 
introduced  himself  into  the  new.  He  took  care,  how- 
ever, to  retain  firm  possession  of  the  old  shell  till  he 
had  well  tried  and  felt  sure  that  he  found  no  fault 
with  the  new  one ;  satisfied  that  it  fitted  him,  he 
scampered  off,  leaving  his  old  house  to  be  taken 
possession  of  by  a  fellow-crab  of  smaller  dimensions, 
which  very  soon  was  the  case  ;  but  it  so  happened 
two  crabs  of  much  the  same  size  took  a  fancy 
to  the  empty  shell ;  the  elder,  however,  beat  the 
younger,  and  secured  the  prize.  After  going  through 
the  same  formality  of  examination  as  the  previous, 
and  apparently  satisfied  with  the  shell,  yet  he  would 
not  venture  his  body  out  of  his  castle  whilst  his 
antagonist  was  at  hand.  All  the  other  crabs  were 
therefore  removed,  and  he  was  left  in  the  basin  by 
himself,  in  quiet  possession  of  the  empty  shell. 
When  alone,  he  soon,  by  the  same  scientific  move- 
ment, thrust  his  body  into  his  companion's  cast-cfl' 
shell ;  but,  from  some  cause  or  another,  he  was  not 
satisfied  with  the  change,  for  he  very  soon  left  his 
new  for  his  old  abode.  After  a  little  time,  how- 
ever, he  re-examined  the  empty  shell,  and  again 
twisted  himself  into  it ;  and,  before  he  had  time  to 
leave  his  new  shell,  the  old  one  was  removed,  when 
he  immediately  began  running  about,  evidently 
looking  for  it.  After  a  little  time  his  old  shell  was 
put  into  the  basin,  when  he  instantly  ran  to  it,  and 
by  a  surprisingly  rapid  movement,  once  more  took 
possession  of  his  old  shell ;  and  though  left  for  some 
time  in  the  basin  with  the  larger  shell,  he  could  not 
be  induced  again  to  take  possession  of  it.  The 
lively  and  eccentric  movements  of  the  crabs  afforded 
much  amusement  to  a  group  of  young  folks,  who 
evinced  their  pleasure  by  repeated  and  loud  bursts 
of  merriment.  The  noise,  however,  seemed  to  have 
no  effect  upon  the  crabs;  but  the  slightest  move- 
ment of  any  of  the  spectators  was  observed,  and 
caused  them  to  retreat  for  protection  within  their 
shells. — A.  E.  Murray. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


65 


ZOOLOGY. 

Sea  Urchins.— The  common  Echinus  sphara  is 
eaten  in  France,  Spain,  and  Italy.  I  do  not  know 
in  what  part  or  portions  of  this  kingdom  it  is 
made  an  article  of  food  ;  but  if  "  W.  S.,  Belfast," 
will  put  the  question  to  Mr.  Frank  Buckland 
through  the  medium  of  Land  and  Water,  should 
he  not  obtain  a  reply  to  his  question  in  Science- 
Gossip,  I  have  little  doubt  but  what  that  gentle- 
man will  be  able  to  inform  him.— I  was  toldlby  a 
friend  who  tasted  sea  urchins  abroad,  that  they 
were  boiled  in  sea-water,  picked  out  of  the  shell 
when  cold,  and  eaten  with  oil  and  vinegar ;  also 
stewed  like  oysters,  and  plain  boiled  and  eaten  like 
eggs.— H.  E.  Watney. 

The   Locomotion    of    Crass.— Neither   do  I 
doubt "  E.  J.  T."  on  this  point,  when  he   says  he 
was  "  conquered  by  a  crass,"  who  disappeared  in  the 
sand  ;  for  I  took  several  specimens  on  the  shore  at 
Llandudno   a  week  ago,  just    below    the    lesser 
Ormes-head  in  a  similar  way  ;  but  I  was  alluding,  in 
the  little  article  "E.  J.  T."  notices,  to  the  very  slow 
manner  in  which  crass  change  their  quarters  from 
one  stone  to  another  in  an  aquarium.     I  have  one 
now  which  I  carefully  watched  effecting  his  removal, 
and  I  feel  sure    I    was  quite  correct    in    saying 
crass    do    move  most  slowly  under  such  circum- 
stances.    Several  crass  which  my  boy  succeeded  in 
digging  up  out  of  the  sand  were  firmly  attached 
to  a  small  stoue,  and  the  way  he  proceeded  was  to 
dig  round  the  crass,  at  a  little  distance  off,  and  sud- 
denly fish  the  stone  up,  crass  and  all,  out  of  the 
sand,  by  inserting  the  point  of  a  stick  under  it. 
Now  if  the  crass  that  disappeared  were  fixed  to 
stones,  how  did  they  escape  ?     Could  they  push  the 
stone  down  ?   This  seems  almost  impossible,  as  does 
the  idea  that  if  their  base  were  attached  to  a  stone 
at  any  very  great  depth  below  the  surface  of  the 
sand,  they  could  so  elongate  themselves  as  to  come 
up  to  the  top  when  they  wanted  to  bask  in  the  rays 
of  the  sun.    I  have  never  seen  this  power  which 
crass  possess  of  disappearing  in  the  sand  on  being 
disturbed   noticed  in  any  work,   but,  as  I  before 
observed,  "E.  J.  T."  is  quite  right  in  what  he  has 
stated,  and  so  am   I  in  asserting  they  move   very 
slowly  from  one  stone  to  another. — H.  E.  Watney. 

The  Blue  Tit.— The  writer  of  the  interesting 
article  on  Titmice,  last  month,  tells  us  that  the 
Blue  Tit  "rarely  [quarrels  with]  any  bird."  In 
Mudie's  "British  Birds"  we  are  informed  that 
"  when  opportunity  favours,  it  kills  other  birds  by 
punching  them  on  the  head."  Which  of  these 
assertions  is  the  right  one  ?  My  observation  gives 
a  decided  verdict  for  the  former.— II.  (J.  Sargent. 

Natural  Instinct.— A  year  or  two  ago  some 
partridges  were  hatched  under  a  bantam  hen  at 


Mobberley  Hall,  Cheshire.  After  following  the  hen 
for  some  time,  an  old  partridge  made  its  appear- 
ance, and  enticed  the  young  ones  away  from  the 
hen.  They  followed  her  readily,  understanding  her 
call.  The  old  partridge  was  probably  one  that  had 
been  reared  by  the  gamekeeper  the  year  before, 
and  had  become  partially  tame;  for  after  thus 
asserting  her  maternal  rights,  and  taking  possession 
of  the  young  ones,  she  remained  about  the  hall 
and  gardens  with  her  brood.— Robert  Holland. 

The  Prawn. — How  crabs  and  other  crustaceans 
manage  to  cast  their  shells  is  another  of  the  wonder- 
ful occurrences  of  nature.    It  is  all  very  easy  to  talk 
of  the  "  softening  of  the  muscles,"  and  so  forth  ; 
but  how  can  all  the  softening  of  the  muscles  enable 
the  creature  to'withdraw  the  substantial  flesh  at  the 
thick  end  of  its  forcep  claws  through  the  narrow 
openings  at  the  different  joints  ?    However,  it  is 
done,   but  how  is  the  question.     With  the  crab  it 
must  be  a  work  of  time,  but  with  the  prawn  it  is 
a  matter  of  a  moment,  and  which  I  lately  had  the 
satisfaction  of  witnessing.     When  the  prawn  is 
about  to  cast  its  shell,  the  creature  is  then  less 
active  or  lively  ;  it  is  constantly  fidgeting  with  its 
iegs,  bending  its  body,    and  evidently  altogether 
feeling  very  uneasy.    Probably,  during  these  opera- 
tions it  contrives  to  make  the  opening  at  the  back 
of  the  shell  through  which  it  afterwards  escapes. 
At  all  events,  its  exit  is  only  the  work  of  a  moment, 
for,  bending  its  body  till  its  head  and  tail  meet,  it 
gives  one  sudden  spring,  and  emerges  clean  and 
clear  out  of  its  old  shell,  leaving  it,  even  to  the 
extreme  end  of  its  delicate  antennae,  as  sound  and 
perfect  as  if  it  were  still  occupied  by  the  living  animal. 
Though  my  prawns  have  often  cast  their  shells,  all 
of  which  have  been  most  wonderfully  perfect,  even 
to  the  minutest  point,  yet  I  have  never  met  with 
one  but  what  has  been  deficient  of  its  eye-coverings. 
—A.  E.  Murray. 

Transformation  of  a  Hairy  Caterpillar.— 
A  hairy  caterpillar,  which  had  been  kept  in  a  box 
and  fed  upon  leaves,  began  to  spin  its  web  on  the 
12th  June.  In  spinning  it  managed,  either  inten- 
tionally or  by  accident,  to  introduce  a  considerable 
quantity  of  the  hairs  from  its  body  into  the  web,  so 
that  the  web  and  hairs  appeared  pretty  much  iu 
equal  proportions.  On  the  morning  of  the  19th 
the  chrysalis  began  to  make  its  appearance,  and  in 
the  course  of  half  an  hour  it  contrived  to  free  itself 
from  the  now  useless  hairy  skin  by  gradually  working 
the  skin  off  towards  the  tail  end.  When  the  chrysalis 
first  freed  itself  it  was  of  a  light  yellow  colour,  but 
by  the  evening  of  the  same  day  it  had  assumed  a 
dark,  reddish-brown,  glossy  appearance,  and  by  next 
morning  it  was  perfectly  black.  On  the  16th  July 
the  moth  broke  the  chrysalis,  so  that  the  transfor- 
mation only  occupied  twenty-seven  days.—  A.  E. 
Murray. 


66 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Climbing  Rats. — I  can  fully  bear  testimony  to 
tlie  power,  as  well  as  the  inclination  of  rats  for 
climbing,  as  spoken  of  by  one  of  your  corre- 
spondents in  Science-Gossip  for  last  month.  In  my 
father's  garden  we  had  a  Ribston-pippin  apple-tree, 
and  the  fruit,  remarkably  large  and  fine-flavoured, 
disappeared  one  year  in  a  very  remarkable  manner. 
We  children  having  been  told  not  to  meddle  with 
that  particular  tree,  were  reproved  more  than  once, 
but  in  spite  of  the  scolding  the  apples  continued  to 
lessen^  and  the  guilty  child  could  not  be  discovered. 
One  day  I  was  walking  in  the  garden,  and  hap-  j 
pened  to  look  with  more  than  usual  attention  at  a 
very  bushy  rose-tree  growing  very  near  the  wall, 
when  I  perceived  a  heap  of  something  behind  it 
that  I  could  not  well  make  out,  and  on  turning 
back  the  branches,  to  my  astonishment  and  delight, 
there  was  a  large  quantity  of  Ribston-pippins,  some 
quite  fresh-  gathered,  and  others  showing  unmis- 
takable marks  what  kind  of  teeth  had  been  employed 
on  them.  I  need  scarcely  say  that  I  ran  to  fetch 
my  father  to  look  at  my  discovery,  who  was  both 
amused  and  surprised  to  find  who  had  been  the 
apple-stealer. — H.  E.  Wilkinson,  Penge. 

Skylarks  in  New  Zealand.— In  a  letter  from 
my  brother  in  New  Zealand,  he  says  there  are 
great  quantities  of  skylarks  about  here  (Blenheim) : 
we  hear  them  all  day  long.  It  is  pleasing  to  find 
that  some  of  our  favourite  birds  are  making  them- 
selves at  home  in  the  colonies.  I  quite  agree  with 
Mr.  Spicer  and  Mr.  Ullvett  in  their  remarks  in 
recent  numbers  of  Science-Gossip  respecting  the 
introduction  of  foreign  birds,  insects,  &c,  to  local- 
ities suitable  for  them  in  this  country.  It  would  in 
a  measure  compensate  for  the  loss  of  some  of  our 
own  fauna,  which,  from  cultivation  of  the  land,  &c, 
are  now  very  rare,  or  perhaps  extinct. — H.  Budge. 

The  Tsetse  (Glossina  morsitans). — Innumerable 
flies  appeared,  including  the  Tsetse,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  the  donkeys  had  no  hair  left  either  on  their 
ears  or  legs ;  they  drooped  and  died  one  by  one.  It 
was  in  vain  that  I  erected  sheds  and  lighted  fires  : 
nothing  would  protect  them  from  the  flies.  The 
moment  the  fires  were  lit,  the  animals  would  rush 
wildly  into  the  smoke,  from  which  nothing  would 
drive  them,  and  in  the  clouds  of  imaginary  protec- 
tion they  would  remain  all  day,  refusing  food. — 
Sir  S.  Baker,  "Exploration  of  the  Nile  Sources." 

Bats  out  in  Winter. — It  may  interest  some  of 
the  readers  of  Science-Gossip  to  know  that  I  saw 
a  bat  on  the  wing,  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  on 
Sunday,  February  5th,  of  this  year.  The  day  was 
comparatively  mild.  The  animal  seemed  full  of 
vigour,  and  was  flitting  backwards  and  forwards 
over  the  garden,  as  though  hawking  for  insects. 
The  same  animal  or  a  similar  one  was  seen  the  next 
morning  under  like  circumstances  by  some  members 
of  my  family. —  W.  W.  Spicer,  P  otter  ne,  Wilts. 


Effects  of  Cultivation  on  the  Insect 
World. — There  is  nothing  but  dusty  roads  and 
paddy-fields  for  miles  around,  producing  no  insects 
or  birds  worth  collecting.  It  is  really  astonishing, 
and  will  be  almost  incredible  to  many  persons  at 
home,  that  a  tropical  country  when  cultivated 
should  produce  ten  times  as  many  species  of 
beetles  as  can  be  found  here  (Lombok,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sunda  group  of  islands) ;  and  even  our 
common  English  butterflies  are  finer  and  more 
numerous  than  those  of  Ampanam  in  the  present 
dry  season.  A  walk  of  several  hours  with  my  net 
will  produce  perhaps  two  or  three  species  of 
Chnjsomela  aud  Coccinella  and  a  Cicindela,  and  two 
or  three  Hemiptera  and  flies ;  and  every  day  the 
same  species  will  occur. —  Wallace,  "Zoologist." 

Abundance  of  Insect  Life  in  the  Tropics. — 
When  we  consider  that  an  ardent  and  most  inde- 
fatigable entomologist  after  spending  eleven  years 
in  one  region,  the  valley  of  the  Amazons,  devoting 
his  whole  time  and  energy  to  searching  after 
butterflies,  yet  finds  new  species  turning  up  in  al- 
most unabated  profusion,  and  that  every  little 
district  visited,  though  but  a  few  miles  distant  from 
the  last,  has  its  own  peculiar  though  allied  kinds — 
we  may  form  some  idea  of  the  vast  variety  and 
abundance  of  unknown  insects  which  the  almost 
boundless  forests  of  South  America  have  yet  to 
yield  to  scientific  enterprise !  —  P.  H.  Gosse, 
"Romance  of  Natural  History." 

Great  Bustard. — As  this  bird,  once  so  com- 
mon on  Salisbury  Plain,  is  never  seen  there  now  but 
as  a  rare  visitor,  it  is  worthy  of  record  that  in 
January  last  three  were  seen  on  Maddington  Manor 
Farm,  one  of  which  was  shot,  and  has  been  pre- 
sented to  the  Salisbury  South  Wilts  Museum.  It 
is  a  female,  weight  only  7?  pounds,  and  measures 
3]  inches  from  the  beak  to  the  end  of  the  tail,  and 
62  inches  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  wings.  It  is  re- 
ported that  four  bustards  have  been  shot  recently 
in  Cornwall,  and  others  seen  in  Dorsetshire.  Again, 
in  this  month  (February),  two  more  were  seen  at 
Berwick  St.  James,  Wilts,  one  of  which  was  shot 
with  a  bullet.  It  is  a  cock  bird,  length  40  inches, 
from  beak  to  end  of  tail ;  spread  of  wing  from  tip  to 
tip,  7  feet ;  weight  about  15  pounds.  This  account 
is  taken  from  The  Salisbury  Journal,  1871. —  W.  S. 

{The  Zoologist  for  February  contains  some  in- 
teresting correspondence  on  the  recent  occurrence 
of  the  Bustard  in  this  country,  which  our  reader? 
should  consult.— Ed.  S.-G.] 

Pomarine  Skua. — Some  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip  would  be  interested  to  know  that  a  Poma- 
rine Skua  was  shot  at  Harwich  last  week  ;  it  was 
an  adult  bird,  and  had  a  beautiful  plumage.  It  is 
many  years  since  one  was  killed  about  here.— James 
Mash,  jun. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


67 


BOTANY. 

Michaelmas  Daisy.— The  common  Michaelmas 
Daisy  of  the  gardens  is  very  plentiful  in  a  hedge 
on  the  roadside  between  the  village  of  Woolton 
and  Speke  station,  near  Liverpool.  Of  course  it 
is  an  introduction,  having  probably  been  brought  to 
the  field  with  manure ;  but  it  bids  fair  to  become 
quite  naturalized.1— Robert  Holland. 

Home-grown  Currants.  —  The  plant  of  the 
Currant-grape,  imported  two  years  ago  from  Cadiz, 
has,  for  the  first  time,  produced  some  fine  bunches 
of  fruit  of  a  singularly  graceful  and  pretty  form. 
Should  we  succeed  in  drying  them,  they  will  pro- 
bably be  the  first  home-grown  and  home-cured 
sample  of  "pudding  currants"  yet  produced  in 
England,  although  large  quantities  are  annually 
imported  from  the  Levant :  this  is  another  product 
almost  wholly  confined  to  one  district,  the  culti- 
vation of  which  might  be  extended  with  advantage. 
— Royal  Botanic  Society,  Extract  from  Secretary's 
Report,  1S70. 

Big  Vines  at  the  South. — The  "Walter  Ba- 
leigh  vine,"  on  Roanoke  Island,  nearly  three  hun- 
dred years  old,  covers  one  acre  of  ground ;  the  wine 
from  this  vine  last  year  sold  for  $3,000 ;  auother 
vine  in  Tyrrel  County,  N.  C,  in  1S69,  produced 
2,530  gallons  of  wine  ;  several  other  large  vines  in 
tbe  South  produce  each  from  1,000  to  2,000  gallons 
of  wine  per  annum. — Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry. 

Big  Trees  in  Missouri. — It  is  popularly  sup- 
posed that  California  has  the  biggest  trees  in  the 
world;  but  Prof.  Swallow,  of  the  Missouri  Geo- 
logical Survey,  claims  the  distinction  for  his  own 
State.  He  gives  the  following  actual  measure- 
ment of  trees  in  south-west  Missouri : — "  The 
largest  is  a  sycamore  in  Mississippi  County,  65  feet 
high,  which,  2  feet  above  the  ground,  measures 
43  feet  in  circumference.  Another  sycamore  in 
Howard  County  is  38  feet  in  circumference.  A 
cypress  in  Cape  Girardeau  County,  at  a  distance 
of  one  foot  from  the  ground,  measures  29  feet  in 
circumference.  A  cotton-wood  in  Mississippi 
County '.measures  30  feet  around  at  a  distance  of  6 
feet  above  the  ground.  A  pecan  in  the  same  county 
measures  18  feet  in  circumference.  A  black  walnut 
in  Benton  County  is  26  feet  in  circumference.  A 
tulip-tree  (poplar)  in  Cape  Girardeau  County  is  30 
feet  in  circumference.  There  is  a  tupelo  in  Stod- 
dard County  30  feet  in  circumference.  There  is  a 
hackberry  in  Howard  County  11  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence. A  Spanish  oak  in  New  Madrid  County  is  26 
feet  in  circumference.  A  honey-locust  in  Howard 
County  is  13  feet  round.  There  is  a  willow  in 
Pemiscot  County  that  has  grown  to  the  size  of 
24  feet  in  circumference  and  100  feet  in  height. 
Mississippi  County  boasts  of  a  sassafras  that  must 


be  king  of  that  tribe;  it 'measures  9  feet  in  circum- 
ference. In  Pemiscot  County  there  is  a  dogwood 
6  feet  'in  circumference.  In  Mississippi  County 
pawpaws  grow  to  a  circumference  of  3  feet,  and 
grape-vines  and  trumpet  creepers  to  a  circumfer- 
ence of  IS  to  20  inches.  —  Boston  Journal  of 
Chemistry. 

A  Large  Pear. — A  friend  has  shown  us  a 
California  pear  of  almost  incredible  size.  It  mea. 
sures  around  13i  inches,  and  lengthwise  17i  inches. 
It  is  now  somewhat  shrivelled,  but  it  was  said  to 
weigh  three  pounds  when  taken  from  the  tree.  The 
variety  we  judge  to  be  the  Vicar  of  Winkfield, 
although  not  quite  certain.  These  pomological  mon- 
strosities are  not  uncommon  on  the  Pacific  coast, 
but  to  us  they  seem  wonderful.  We  should  be 
careful  in  venturing  under  trees  loaded  with  such 
fruit,  as  the  effect  of  the  blow  resulting  from  the 
fall  of  a  specimen  might  prove  decidedly  unpleasant. 
— Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry. 

Wandering  Weeds. — It  is  stated  that  there 
are  now  no  less  than  214  weeds  which  have  been 
introduced  into  the  United  States  from  foreign 
countries,  and  principally  from  England.  As  a 
proof  of  the  rapidity  with  which  useless  plants  are 
accidentally  brought  over  the  seas,  it  is  said  that 
in  1837  there  were  only  137  foreign  weeds  known 
in  this  country.  As  far  back  as  1672  a  curious 
little  volume,  called  New  England's  Rarities,  gave  a 
list  of  22  plants  which  the  author  considered  had 
sprung  up  since  the  English  had  kept  cattle 
in  New  England.  The  author  mentions  the 
"  plantain,"  which,  he  says,  the  Indians  call  the 
"  Englishman's  foot,"  as  though  produced  by  the 
tread  of  the  white  settlers.  The  common  "  yellow 
toad-flax,"  it  is  stated,  was  originally  introduced 
into  the  province  of  Pennsylvania  as  a  garden 
flower  by  a  Mr.  Banstead,  a  Welshman,  residing  in 
Philadelphia,  from  whom  it  has  derived  the  name 
of  "  Banstead  Weed."  In  1758  this  weed  had  over- 
run the  pastures  in  the  inhabited  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  the  cause  of  bitter  complaints  from 
the  agriculturists  of  that  day.  Chickweed,  it  is 
stated,  was  introduced  in  South  Carolina  as  food 
for  canary-birds,  and  in  ten  years  spread  for  up- 
wards of  50  miles,  and  now  occupies  the  outposts 
of  civilization.  The  "  Scotch  thistle "  is  said  to 
have  been  brought  to  America  by  a  clergyman 
who  carried  with  him  a  bed  stuffed  with  thistle 
down,  in  which  some  seed  remained.  Feathers 
being  cheap  in  the  new  country,  were  substituted 
for  the  down  which  was  soon  emptied  out,  and  the 
seed  springing  up  filled  the  country  with  thistles. 
Another  account  says  some  enthusiastic  Scot  in- 
troduced the  thistle  as  an  emblem  of  his  country, 
which  soon  made  itself  at  home  and  became  a 
nuisance. — Philadelphia  ledger. 


68 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Good  Microscopes. — "  Why  should  not  a  micro- 
scope be  obtainable  upon  the  same  terms  as  a 
pianoforte?"  A  large  number  of  individuals  who 
wish  to  possess  a  good  instrument  are  deterred  by 
the  great  outlay  it  involves  at  one  time ;  but  sup- 
posing the  amount  could  be  spread  over,  say  twelve 
or  eighteen  months,  they  would  jump  at  the  oppor- 
tunity of  possessing  one.  I  should  imagine  that 
some  system  similar  to  Cramer  &  Co.'s,  Moore  & 
Co.'s,  and  other  large  pianoforte  manufacturers, 
might  be  adopted  by  opticians  with  great  success, 
and  would  eventually  prove  most  remunerative  to 
them,  as  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  would 
sell  a  larger  quantity  of  good  and  expensive  instru- 
ments, while,  at  the  present  time,  students  and 
persons  in  the  middle  classes  of  life  put  up  with 
an  inferior  and  cheaper  article.  If  some  spirited 
optician  would  only  pioneer  the  way,  I  am  sure  he 
would  be  followed  by  many  others.— C.  R  0. 

Dr.  J.  Matthews's  Turntable. — All  micro- 
scopists  who  use  the  turntable  are  greatly  indebted 
to  Dr.  J.  Matthews  for  the  improvement  he  has 
carried  out  on  the  instrument  formerly  in  use,  and 
which  is  described  and  a  drawing  added  in  the  July 
number  of  1S70  of  Science-Gossip.  In  repeating 
his  excellent  principle,  [  have  been  induced  to  sub- 


Fig.  44.  Dr.  J.  Matthews's  Turntable,  two-thirds  size. 

stitute  rosewood  or  some  hard  wood  in  lieu  of  brass. 
I  find  that  glass  slides  work  more  pleasantly  with 
wood  than  with  brass;  there  is  less  danger  of  splin- 
tering the  edges  of  a  thin  glass  slide  by  undue  pres- 
sure, and  the  wood  being  more  elastic  than  brass, 
holds  the  glass  slide  equally  firm,  with  less  pressure. 
It  is  of  advantage  to  make  the  upper  edges  of  the 
jaws,  where  they  touch  the  glass  slide,  to  project  a 
little  beyond  the  lower  edges,  increasing  the  grip  of 
the  jaws  on  the  glass  slide.  In  the  mode  of  wedging 
up  the  wooden  jaws,  I  adopt  another  form  of  wedge 


(also  of  hard  wood),  doing  away  with  the  slatted 
wedge,  which  is  rather  troublesome  to  construct, 
and  using  a  circular  piece  of  wood,  on  one  side  pro- 
longed into  an  arm  or  lever,  and  secured  by  a  brass 
screw,  the  centre  of  rotation  not  coinciding  with 
the  centre  of  the  circle.  This  mode  of  wedging  the 
jaws  gives  great  power  gradually  applied,  with  very 
little  effort,  and  not  any  chance  of  slipping,  the  jaws 
and  wedge-piece  being  of  hard  wood :  the  table  or 
circular  plate  is  made  as  usual  of  brass.  This  mode 
of  carrying  out  Dr.  J.  Matthews's  excellent  principle 
reduces  the  trouble  and  cost  of  construction  to  a 
minimum,  and  where  the  services  of  a  workman 
cannot  be  procured,  the  microscopist  may  carry  it 
out  for  himself.  To  help  explanation  I  have  added 
a  drawing.— J.  B.  Spencer,  9,  Kidbrooke  Terrace, 
Blackheath. 

Universal  Mounting  and  Dissecting  Micro- 
scope.—This  instrument,  which  has  been  referred 
to  in  the  Eebruary  number  of  Science-Gossip  as 
"very  useful  and  compact,"  has  been  specially 
designed  for  the  purpose  of  comprising,  in  a  single 
portable  case,  all  the  requisites  in  implements  and 
materials  for  the  preparing  and  mounting  of  micro- 
scopic objects,  including  a  stock  of  glass  strips  and 
covers,  and  combined  with  a  good,  simple,  and  com- 
pound microscope,  sufficient  for  ordinary  require- 
ments in  collecting  and  examining  objects  either  at 
home  or  at  the  seaside,  aVc. ;  so  as  to  supply  the 
means  of  preserving  objects,  whilst  fresh,  upon  the 
spot,  that  would  be  injured  or  lost  if  the  mounting 
were  deferred  until  returning  home.  The  com-, 
pound  microscope  extends  to  a  power  of  200  diame- 
ters, and  the  simple  microscope  to  20  diameters ; 
and  the  whole  is  contained  in  a  case  of  about 
7  inches  cube,  and  so  arranged  that  all  portions  of 
the  apparatus  are  readily  accessible  for  use  when 
the  case  is  set  open.  This  instrument  has  been 
ably  worked  out  by  Messrs.  Field,  of  Birmingham, 
from  my  original  design,  aided  by  the  suggestions 
of  several  microscopical  friends  in  bringing  it  to 
its  present  very  complete  state ;  and  it  is  being 
supplied  by  them  at  a  very  moderate  cost. — W.  P. 
Marshall,  Birmingham. 

British  DiatomacEjE. — We  are  glad  to  see  a 
new  Guide  to  the  Genera  and  Species  of  British 
Diatomacea?,  by  Dr.  Donkin,  illustrated  by  Tuffen 
West.  It  is  being  issued  in  parts,  but  as  only  the 
first  part  has  appeared,  we  must  not  at  present 
hazard  an  opinion.  We  hope  that  no  pains  will  be 
spared  to  make  it  worthy  of  general  acceptance  as 
the  standard  work  on  this  subject. 

Objective  for  Gas  Lantern. — Can  any  one 
who  has  used  an  inch  objective  with  an  oxyhydro- 
gen  lantern  recommend  such  a  glass  for  the  pur- 
pose ?  The  majority  show  only  the  central  portion 
of  the  object  in  focus. — E.  C.  B. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  1  EN  C  E-GO  SSIP. 


69 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

A  Remarkable  Spring. —About  sixty  miles 
'north  of  Galena,  Texas,  near  the  town  of  Liberty, 
there  is  a  spring,  the  water  of  which  is  quite  acid, 
simulating  lemonade,  and  those  who  taste  it  like  it 
so  much  that  they  drink  it  almost  immoderately. 
When  you  feel  hot,  it  is  quite  delicious  ;  and  under 
any  circumstances,  whether  you  are  hot  or  cold,  the 
drinking  of  it  produces  perspiration,  with  no 
unpleasant  effects  afterwards.  The  spring  has  no 
apparent  outlet  or  inlet.  It  is  probably  sixty  feet 
across  it,  and  it  is  covered  with  a,  white  froth  or 
foam,  which  upon  close  examination  appears  like 
cream  of  tartar  on  a  wine-cask.  It  kills  insects, 
worms,  and  other  small  animals  that  come  near  and 
use  it.  No  fisli  or  other  evidence  of  life  is  seen 
within  its  waters. — Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry. 

Luminous  Eungi. — In  the  interesting  and  in- 
structive life  of  the  late  Professor  Harvey 
(page  290)  mention  is  made  of  sonie  Australian 
fungi,  "which  shed  abroad  glare  of  light  among  the 
grass  and  decayed  leaves."  "Their  light  was  very 
white,  like  ghostly  moonlight,  and  so  strong  that  I 
could  see  the  time  on  my  watch.  I  gathered  some, 
and  found  them  to  be  agarics  .  .  .  .  t  brought  them 
home,  and  they  retained  their  lustre  till  decompo- 
stion  set  in."  Has  any  instance  of  luminous  British 
mushrooms  been  verified,  or  is  this  singular  sight 
confined  to  the  fungi  of  the  antipodes  ?— Frances 
I.  Battersby. 

Woodcocks  and  Holly-berries.— Do  wood- 
cocks often  feed  upon  holly-berries  ?  During  the 
severe  frost  of  January,  a  pair  of  these  birds  ven- 
tured within  three  yards  of  our  parlour  window  and 
seemed  anxiously  searching  for  food  at  the  foot  of 
a  holly-bush  which  had  been  covered  with  berries 
this  season.  Apropos  to  Mrs.  Watney's  last  letter, 
I  remember  hearing  a  clever  and  accomplished 
lady  visitor  exclaim,  on  perceiving  a  blackbird 
pecking  crumbs  off  a  window-sill,  "Oh  what  a 
beautiful  yellow-billed  raven ! "  to  the  intense 
amusement  of  some  children  who  had  been  taught 
to  "  understand  something  of  their  own  planet."* 
And  on  showing  a  drawer  of  butterflies  to  a  person 
in  our  neighbourhood,  his  first  qnestion  was  "  How 
do  you  keep  them  alive?" — Frances  I.  Battersby. 

Electkic  Stockings  (p.  45). — The  phenomena 
described  by  "  E.  M.  P."  are  very  curious.  I  am 
not  sufficiently  versed  in  electric  science  to  offer 
any  explanation,  but  I  can  record  some  additional 
facts  which  may  be  interesting  to  your  corre- 
spondent. It  is  by  no  means  necessary,  in  order  to 
produce  such  results  as  he  describes,  that  two 
different  materials  should  be  in  contact.  Hundreds 
of  times,  when  I  have  taken  off  my  flannel  jacket  at 
night,  I  have  heard  the  same  crackling  noise,  and 
the  material  has  seemed  to  cling  together;  and  if  I 
have  done  it  in  the  dark,  the  experiment  has  pro- 
duced very  distinct  electric  light.  This  has  gene- 
rally, if  not  always,  been  in  frosty  weather,  after  I 
have  been  roasting  myself  at  a  good  fire.  Another 
fact  in  connection  with  this  is  curious,— namely,  that, 
as  I  grow  older,  this  power  of  producing  electricity 
seems  to  be  growing  weaker;  and  I  now  seldom 
observe  the  phenomenon  which  used  to  be  of  com- 
mon occurrence  .when  I  was  a  boy.   Evidently  some 


Kingsley. 


change  has  taken  place  in  myself.  Every  one  is 
familiar  with  the  electric  nature  of  a  cat :  this,  too, 
is  most  apparent  in  cold  weather  and  before  a  fire. 
On  such  occasions,  if  I  stroke  a  cat  for  some  time 
the  right  way  of  the  grain,  and  then  hold  my  hand 
an  inch  from  the  cat's  back,  the  hair  will  rise  up 
erect  and  touch  my  hand;  and  if  I  put  my  knuckle 
to  her  ear,  I  hear  a  slight  report,  and  feel  a  decided 
shock  ;  and  the  cat  feels  it  too,  and  disapproves  of 
it ;  for,  after  one  or  two  trials,  she  cringes  her 
ears,  and  makes  her  escape.  Many  children  are  as 
electric  as  cats.  If  their  hair  be  combed  before  a 
warm  fire,  it  will  crackle,  and  will  follow  the  hand 
and  stand  on  end. — Robert  Holland. 


Electric  Stockings. — "  E.  M.  P."  will  find  a 
rather  long  account  of  electric  stockings  in  the 
"  Encyc.  Brit.,"  7th  edition,  article  "  Electricity." 
A  Mr.  Robert  Symner  first  described  the  pheno- 
menon in  1759.  Two  black  or  two  while  silk 
stockings,  he  says,  on  the  same  leg  produce  no 
effects,  but  a  black  and  a  white  stocking  "rushed 
to  meet  each  other  at  the  distance  of  a  foot  and  a 
half."  He  also  produced  electricity  by  drawing 
them  on  the  hand,  but  the  electricity  was  less 
powerful  than  when  the  stockings  were  drawn 
from  the  leg.  He  describes  the  stockings  flying  to 
and  sticking  to  the  wall,  and  succeeded  in  charging 
Leyden  jars  by  means  of  them. — /.  R.  Davies. 

"Eye-stones."— All  the  surrounding  countries  of 
the  Baltic  are  distinguished  by  the  great  number  of 
fresh-water  lakes  which  they  contain,  and  not  only 
those  which  are  mountainous,  like  Sweden,  but  also 
the  alluvial  soil  of  the  northern  coast  of  Germany. 
In  Mecklenburg  alone  are  counted  about  200  lakes. 
Many  of  these  are  rich  in  fish,  as  well  as  in  the 
common  Cray-lish  (Astacus  fluviatilis)*  which  is  a 
smaller  relation  to  the  Lobster,  whom  it  much  re- 
sembles. In  the  heads  of  some  of  the  larger  of  these 
are  found  the  "  Eye-stones,"  which  are  often  used 
for  removing  small  particles  of  dust,  &c,  from  the 
eye,  and  which  answer  exactly  the  description  given 
by  Mr.  T.  C.  Izod  in  No.  73  of  this  Journal.  It  is 
much  to  be  regretted  that  the  increased  demand 
for  this  delicate  shell-fish  has  played  sad  havoc 
among  them,  and  many  waters,  which  in  former 
times  produced  great  quantities,  are  now  almost 
devoid  of  them.  Three  cray-fish  to  a  pound  in 
weight  was  no  great  rarity  at  one  time,  while  now 
they  are  caught  when  too  young  to  leave  any 
offspring  behind  them.  One  of  my  brothers  is 
living  in  the  midst  of  a  district  which  was  once 
celebrated  for  and  abounded  in  cray-fish,  to  whom 
I  will  write  for  some  specimens ;  and  if  he  will  still 
be  able  to  procure  them,  I  shall  deposit  them  with 
the  Editor  of  Science-Gossip,  who  will,  perhaps, 
be  kind  enough  to  distribute  them  to  persons 
interested  in  them. — C.  Becker. 

"Eye-stones."  —  A  few  minutes  previous  to 
seeing  the  "  Eye-stone "  contributions  in  last 
month's  Science-Gossip,  we  had  sent  to  London 
two  operculums  (or  "fish-eyes,"  as  we  call  them 
in  New  South  Wales)  to  be  mounted  in  gold.  As 
"  eyes  "  in  appearance,  the  convex  sides  are  perfect, 
dark  pupils  melting  into  a  bright-green  iris,  then 
the  white,  and  arching  over  all  a  brown  eyebrow. 
On  the  reverse,  or  flat  side,  are  the  whirl-markings 
usual  to  shell  lids.  Always  thinking  our  little 
operculums  gems,  however  common  at  the  Anti- 

*  In  German,  "  Krebs." 


70 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE   GOSSIP. 


podes,  and  hearing  Royalty,  while  there,  has  had 
some  like  them  set  as  sleeve-links,'  &c.,_  we  have 
only  too  gladly  availed  ourselves  of  the  hint.  And 
now,  will  some  kind  reader  of  Science-Gossip 
help  us  to  the  true  name  of  the  shell  owning  such 
a  wonderful  eyelid  ? — J.  W.  K, 

The  Depth  op  Soil  in  Cornwall,  over  hill 
and  dale,  will  average  about  one  foot.  Supposing 
a  beech-leaf  to  cover  a  superficial  inch,  it  takes 
about  35  dead  brown  leaves,  tightly  consolidated 
by  pressure  in  a  hand-vice,  to  form  \  of  an  inch  in 
substance,  which  multiplied  by  8,  gives  280  years, 
necessary  to  yield  one  inch  of  ground  ;  which, 
again,  multiplied  by  12,  gives  a  lapse  of  time  of 
3,360  years  to  produce  one  foot  of  vegetable  soil. 
Allow  another  preliminary  space,  of  a  few  hundred 
years,  for  the  annual  growth  and  decay  of  the  first 
scanty  covering  of  lichens  and  mosses,  a  period  of 
time  of  about  4,000  years  would  pass  before  the 
bald  hills  of  a  bare  world  could  screen  their  naked- 
ness from  view,  clothed  in  the  leafy  foliage  of 
nature.—  W.  B.  Fowey. 

The  Tamarisk  Manna.— I  think  your  corre- 
spondent "C."  will  find  a  perfectly  authentic 
description  of  this  tree  in  a  work  entitled  "  The 
Desert  of  Sinai,"  by  Bonnar.  The  Tamarix  manni- 
fera  drops  in  the  summer  a  sort  of  substance  called 
by  the  Arabs  "Mann."  This  "Mann"  falls  from 
the  leaves  on  the  ground  beneath  the  tree,  and  it  is 
soon  collected  by  the  Bedouins,  who  eat  it  with 
bread.  Many  persons  affirm  that  "Mann"  does 
not  exude  from  the  trees  at  all,  but  that  it  is  formed 
by  an  insect  which  abounds  in  the  Tamarix.  Others 
say  it  is  this  insect,  one  of  the  Cocci,  that  makes  a 
puncture  in  the  bark  of  the  tree,  from  which  the 
juice  exudes,  and,  becoming  concreted,  falls  in  the 
form  of  manna  to  the  earth ;  whilst  a  few  travellers 
assert  that  the  manna  of  the  Jews  was  produced 
by  a  species  of  camel's-thorn  {Alhagi  maurorum). 
Bonnar  is  a  living  writer,  and,  to  the  best  of  my 
recollection,  he  mentions  having  seen  the  manna  of 
the  tamarisk.— Helen  E.  Watney. 

Forest  Fires  in  the  United  States.— In  many 
places  large  tracts  of  forest_  have  been  burnt  down 
from  the  carelessness  or  mischief  of  hunters,  who 
take  no  trouble  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  the 
forest  by  the  camp  fires.  They  even_  wilfully  set 
fire  to  a  tree  when  entering  the  forest,  in  order  that 
the  smoke  may  guide  them  out  again,  Few  sights 
are  more  dreary  than  that  of  a  burnt  forest  with 
the  charred  and  blackened  trunks  of  trees,  some 
still  standing,  and  others  tumbled  about  in  the  most 
fantastic  confusion.— Townshend,  "Ten  Thousand 
Miles  of  Travel" 

Natural  Selection  (p.  42).— There  is  nothing 
remarkable  in  the  circumstance  of  the  water-hen 
taking  refuge  in  a  tree,  as  mentioned  by  "  G.  G.," 
under  the  above  heading.  Every  one  who  has 
watched  the  manners  of  these  birds  is  aware  that 
they  are  in  the  constant  habit  of  roosting  on  boughs 
overhanging  pieces  of  water.  I  have  myself  many 
a  time  disturbed  them,  late  in  the  evening,  in  such 
situations,  and  have  watched  them  fly  hurriedly 
downwards,  until  thev  reached  the  surface  of  the 
water.  If  "  G.  G."  will  refer  to  Yarrell's  "British 
Birds  "  {sub  voce),  he  will  find  an  instance  given  of 
a  water-hen  nesting  "in  a  spruce  fir  tree,  twenty 
feet  from  the  ground."  He  also  speaks  of  their 
perching  and  roosting  on  trees.—  W.  W.  Spicer, 
Potterne,  Wilts 


Destruction  op  Plants  by  Goats  (p.  47). — 
A  most  interesting  tree,  the  bottle  palm  (Hyophorbe 
Barklyi,  Hook,  fil.),  is  fast  disappearing  under  the 
combined  attacks  of  goats  and  rabbits.  This  palm 
is  peculiar  to  a  small  island  known  as  Round  Island, 
which  forms  one  of  a  group  distant  about  twenty 
miles  from  Mauritius.  It  is  far  from  common  even 
in  its  native  home.  There  are  no  indigenous  mam- 
mals on  the  island,  but  goats  and  rabbits  have  been 
introduced,  and  these  bid  fair  to  destroy  this  very 
curious  member  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  climbing 
up  the  trunk — an  easy  process,  as  it  is  of  a  swollen, 
gouty  form— and  nibbling  off  the  shoots.  The 
young  plants,  as  they  spring  from  the  ground,  have 
of  course  no  chance  against  these  tiresome  marau- 
ders.— W.  W.  Spicer,  Potterne,  Wilts. 

Is  THE    LANDRAIL    A    BlRD    OF    PASSAGE?— In 

the  month  of  August,  1852,  I  crossed  in  a  steam- 
boat from  Hull  to  Rotterdam. y.tWhen  we  were 
about  forty  miles  from  the  Brill,  a  landrail,  flying 
towards  Holland,  fell  on  the  deck  and  was  caught. 
The  sailors  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  peer- 
ing at  the  strange  bird,  and  he  having  recovered 
his  strength  flew  from  the  basket  and  recommenced 
his  flight  to  Holland,  which  no  doubt  he  reached  in 
safety. — T.  G.  Thompson,  Ashdown  Park,  Sussex. 

Who  killed  Cock  Robin  ?— At  p.  46  of  your 
February  number,  it  is  stated  that  "Who  Killed 
Cock  [poor]  Robin  was  written  by  the  Rev.  — 
Moseley,  who  is  still  living."  If  this  be  so,  he  must 
himself  be  a  hearty  old  cock.  I  have  the  song  set 
to  music— I  suppose  by  Dr.  Calcott— in  the  "  Ju- 
venile Amusement"  entered  at  Stationers'  Hall, 
1797.  This  collection  contains  most  of  the  old 
popular  ditties,  "Who  Killed  Cock  Robin"  and  the 
"  Multiplication  Table  "  being  highly  dramatic  and 
clever.  If  the  alleged  author  be  living,  and  had 
attained  to  say  20  or  23  at  least,  if  in  Orders 
when  it  was  written,  he  must  be  between  90  and 
100  at  least.  The  song,  however,  is  not  published 
with  the  parade  and  flourish  of  a  new  song,  and  I 
doubt  not  might  be  traced  to  a  much  earlier  date 
than  1797—  G.B.,Bath. 

Eggs  of  Lepidoptera. — In  Science-Gossip, 
November,  1870,  there  appeared  some  good  remarks 
on  "The  Eggs  of  Butterflies  and  Moths."  There 
is  a  vast  fund  of  beautyjand  interest  in  them,  and  as 
is  justly  remarked  in  the  paper  alluded  to,  "  they 
are  by  no  means  common  in  cabinets."  I  have  a 
few,  but  there  is  some  considerable  difficulty,  first 
in  finding  them,  and  secondly,  in  mounting  them. 
I.  am  sure  many  with  myself  would  feel  very 
greatly  obliged  if  somf  entomologist  would  inform 
us  where,  i.  e.  on  what  vegetables  and  shrubs,_  we 
are  likely  to  find  them,  and  perhaps  some  micro- 
scopist  would  at  the  same  time  state  the  best 
medium  for  preserving  them.  I  am  inclined  to 
think  one  part  of  glycerine  to  twelve  of  distilled 
water  is  the  best ;  if  denser  than  that,  they  shrivel 
from  exosmose  —  G.  H.  B.,  Galten House,  Shanklin. 

Popular  Errors.— Can  any  of  your  readers 
assist  me  in  collecting  instances  of  "popular 
errors,"  such  as— As  blind  as  a  mole,  As  deaf  as  an 
adder  ?  There  are  a  great  many  ;  some  are  quite 
local,  others  extend  over  the  whole  of  England ; 
and  knowing  what  a  large  circulation  the  Science- 
Gossip  has,  I  thought  that  mentioning  the  subject 
in  its  pages  would  be  a  good  way  of  obtaining 
instances  which  otherwise  I  should  not  hear  of.— 
C.  K.  B. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  IEN  CE-GOSSIP. 


71 


The  Year-Book  of  Pacts.— We  have  before  us 
Mr.  Tirabs's  annual  volume  for  last  year,  and  it  is 
not  a  whit  behind  any  of  its  numerous  predecessors 
in  interest  or  value.  This  book  has  become  quite 
an  institution;  almost  as  sure  as  Christmas  Day  and 
Good  Friday,  it  "  cometh  but  once  a  year."  Tor 
those  who  do  not  take  the  trouble  to  learn  how 
"  the  world  wags  "  in  science  but  once  in  twelve 
months,  this  volume  must  be  invaluable.  To  others 
it  is  useful  as  a  reminder  of  what  has  been  done,  or 
at  least  some  of  it— that  which  is  popular.  The 
portrait  of  Professor  Huxley,  and  the  vignette  of 
the  American  Gatling  Mitrailleuse,  are  in  them- 
selves hints  as  to  the  course  of  the  stream  in  1870. 

"The  Ctpeess  of  Lomma."— This  small  account 
of  a  most  interesting  tree,  I  copy  from  the  Mori- 
cultural  Cabinet  of  1858,  thinking  it  might  in- 
terest some  of  the  readers  of  Science-Gossip  ; 
and  also  I  should  like  to  know  whether  any  of  the 
readers  have  ever  seen  it, &c.  "This  tree  is  the 
oldest  of  which  there  remain  any  records.  It  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  planted  in  the  year  of  the  birth 
of  Christ,  and  on  that  account  is  looked  on  with 
reverence  by  the  inhabitants  ;  but  an  ancient  chro- 
nicle at  Milan  is  said  to  prove  that  it  was  a  tree  in 
the  time  of  Julius  Csesar,  B.C.  42.  It  is  a  hundred 
and  twenty-three  feet  high,  and  twenty  feet  in  cir- 
cumference at  one  foot  from  the  ground.  Napoleon, 
when  laying  down  the  plan  for  his  great  road  over 
the  Simplon,  diverged  from  a  straight  line  to  avoid 
injuring  this  tree." — Thomas  Wynne. 

Bees  and  Soot.— De  Quincey,  in  his  "Con- 
fessions of  an  English  Opium- Eater,"  says  that, 
when  in  the  Lake  district,  he  was  told  that  bees 
make  use  of  soot  in  some  stage  of  their  wax  or 
honey  manufacture.  Is  this  an  admitted  fact?  If  so, 
I  should  be  glad  to  hear  more  about  it. — G.  H.  H. 

Gregories  (S.-G.,  1871,  p.  47).— In  connection 
with  this  name,  cf.  Greygoles,  which  Halliwell  gives 
as  a  Dorset  synonym  of  Agraphis  nutans.  A  writer 
in  Notes  and  Queries,  4th  series,  iv.  345,  states  that 
this  plant  is  called,  in  the  same  county,  "  Blue 
Gramfer  Greygles,"  and  that  Lychnis  diurna  is 
called  "  Bed  Gramfer  Greygles."— James  Britten. 

Is  the  Landrail  a  Bird  of  Passage?  — The 
readers  of  Science-Gossip  are  greatly  indebted  to 
your  correspondent  "  J.  B."  (Dolgelly),  for  haying 
called  attention  to  this  subject;  and  probabilities 
are  quite  in  favour  of  the  suggestion  thrown  out, 
viz.,  that  the  Landrail  remains  with  us  all  the  year 
round.  Por,  in  the  first  place,  it  strikes  one  as  more 
than  likely  that  a  bird  so  awkward  upon  the  wing 
would  find  great  difficulty  in  crossing  the  sea  at 
even  the  shortest  passage  from  shore  to  shore.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  sportsmen  and  gamekeepers  will 
give  us  their  experience  in  this  matter.  Turning  to 
Thompson's  "  Birds  of  Ireland  "  (one  of  the  most 
interesting  of  bird-books,  and  so  rich  in  facts  and 
observations),  vol.  ii.  p.  311,  we  are  told  that  the 
Landrail  has  been  seen  in  late  autumn  and  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  winter  months,  and  quotes  the 
following  from  McSkimmin's  "History  of  Carrick- 
fergus  "  :— "  On  January  the  10th,  1788,  eight  or 
ten  brace  were  flushed  among  the  rocks  at  the 
Knockagh,"  &c.  This  extract  would  lead  to  the 
inference  that  they  are  gregarious  in  winter.  Per- 
haps the  fact  that  these  birds  do  not  come  much 
under  observation  except  at  the  breeding  season 
may  be  accounted  for  by  their  partially  nocturnal 
habits.  They  certainly  become  very  fat  towards 
the  autumn,  as  though  to  prepare  for  winter. — W.  P. 


Dos  A  Dos. — I  have  long  been  wishing  to  put 
a  query  and  state  the  following.  Last  autumn 
twelvemonth,  when  passing  through  the  aquarium 
at  Boulogne,  I  found  an  interested  crowd  gathered 
in  front  of  one  particular  tank  containing  about 
thirty  fish — all  of  one  kind,  which  I  fancied  might 
be  mullet — and  closely  watching  their  movements. 
Several  of  the  fish  were  paired  back  to  back ;  the 
under  fish  poised  naturally  in  mid-water,  the  upper 
fish  swimming  back  downwards ;  and  each  one, 
with  snouts  conjoined,  breathing  simultaneously. 
"  Voila  !  lis  sont  accouples ;  oh,  c'est  drole  ! "  ex- 
claimed the  Frenchers ;  it  was  so.  For  a  time  I 
was  content  to  fancy  it  an  optical  delusion  due  to 
reflection  or  refraction,  but  that  I  waited  till  [  saw 
some  pairs  separate,  others  join.  It  was  indeed 
droll  to  watch  their  gills  moving  in  concert; 
kissing  is  a  mild  term,  for  a  curious  bubbling  of  the 
water  showed  that  they  were  interchanging  breaths. 
The  point  of  contact  was  only  at  the  snout :  it  was 
August,  and  the  weather  intensely  hot. — A.  H. 

Titmice  (p.  34).— I  can  quite  endorse  Mr.  Budd's 
laudatory  notice  of  the  Tomtit  as  a  sprightly  and 
agreeable  aviary  bird.  I  have  had  a  Blue  Tit 
{Cyanistes  caruleus,  Kaup.)  for  more  than  twelve 
months,  and  a  more  pleasant  little  companion  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive.  It  is  a  French  specimen, 
having  been  procured  by  me  across  the  Channel,  and 
brought  away  when  driven  out  by  the  near  approach 
of  the  German  army  to  the  town  in  which  I  resided. 
Of  course  it  differs  in  no  respect  from  our  English 
tits,  unless  it  be  that  it  has  adopted  in  some  measure 
the  mercurial  habits  and  lively  ways  of  our  neigh- 
bours—  at  least  as  they  were  before  the  war! 
Never  was  there  a  more  agile  acrobat,_  or  more 
loquacious  little  twitterer !  The  door  of  the  cage 
is  opened  during  each  meal,  and  Tom  eagerly  takes 
advantage  of  the  permission  given  him  to  fly  about 
the  room,  or  hop  fearlessly  over  the  table,  perching 
on  the  edges  of  the  plates  and  dishes,  and  taking 
tithe  of  the  food  that  may  chance  to  be  present.  It 
is  exceedingly  fond  of  fat  and  butter,  and  never 
fails  to  "  leave  its  mark  "  on  the  pats  at  breakfast- 
time.  It  is  fed  on  bread-and-water  squeezed  dry, 
with  pieces  of  meat  and  apple,  of  all  of  which  it  is 
exceedingly  fond.  Hemp-seed  is  quite  irresistible, 
and  should  the  bird  fail  to  return  to  its  home  within 
a  reasonable  time,  a  few  seeds  thrown  into  the 
cage  are  sure  to  draw  it  back.  It  will  take  them 
too  from  our  lips  and  fingers.  Its  method  of  climb- 
ing over  the  wires  of  its  cage  head  downwards,  and 
its  many  other  grotesque  habits  render  this  tiny 
specimen  of  the  bird-world  a  great  favourite.  I 
have  often  heard  that  the  Great  Tit  (Parus  major, 
L.)  is  given  to  peck  out  the  brains  of  its  fellow- 
captives.  I  can  only  say,  however,  from  my  own 
experience,  that  last  year  three  or  four  were  kept 
in  my  house  for  some  months,  in  a  cage  with  several 
other  birds,  and  that  they  all  lived  on  the  most 
peaceable  and  affectionate  terms.  The  Great  Tit  is 
a  much  larger  and  more  dignified  member  of  the 
family  than  our  tiuy  monkey -like  friend  the  Blue- 
cap  ;  but  I  much  prefer  the  latter  as  a  companion. 
—  W.  W.  Spicer,  Potteme,  Wilts. 

The  Cicada  in  Brazil.— The  main  purpose  of 
the  Casuarina  in  creation  seems  to  be  that  of 
housing  destitute  crickets, 

"  a  importuna  monotona  si  garra," 

jolly  beggars,  whose  ceaseless  chirping  and  hoarse 
whispering  drown  the  sound  of  the  human  voice.— 
Burton,  "  Highlands  of  the  Brazil." 


72 


HAKDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


All  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  be 
addressed  to  the  Publisher.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  can  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer,  not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term-,  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  them.  We  do  not 
undertake  to  return  rejected  manuscripts  unless  sufficient 
stamps  are  enclosed  to  cover  the  return  postage.  Neither 
can  we  promise  to  refer  to  or  return  any  manuscript  after 
one  month  from  the  date  of  its  receipt.  All  microscopical 
drawings  intended  for  publication  should  have  annexed 
thereto  the  powers  employed,  or  the  extent  of  enlargement, 
indicated  in  diameters  (thus  :  x  320  diameters).  Communi- 
cations intended  for  publication  should  be  written  on  one 
side  of  the  paper  only,  and  all  scientific  names,  and  names  of 
places  and  individuals,  should  be  as  legible  as  possible. 
Wherever  scientific  names  or  technicalities  are  employed,  it 
is  hoped  that  the  common  names  will  accompany  them. 
Lists  or  tables  are  inadmissible  under  any  circumstances. 
Those  of  the  popular  names  of  British  plants  and  animals 
are  retained  and  registered  for  publication  when  suffi- 
ciently complete  for  that  purpose,  in  whatever  form  may 
then  be  decided  upon.  Address.  No.  Ifl2,  Piccadilly, 
London,  W. 

J.  S.,  jun. — No.  6.  Gemellaria  loriculata.  No.  8.  Flustrn, 
too  small  for  identification.  No.  5.  Plumularia  falcata,  now 
called  Hydrallmannia  falcata. 

H.  M.— No.  6.  Sertularia  operculata— others  not  British. 

H.  D.— No.  3.  Pellea  hast  at  a,  Lk.  No.  4.  Pteris  sp.  Of 
Nos.  4,  5,  and  6,  specimens  insufficient  to  mark  the  species. — 
J.  G.  D. 

R.  T.  A.— It  is  a  mould,  but  in  too  dilapidated  condition  to 
determine  accurately,— probably  l'ulyactis. 

L.  S.— Dr.  Prior's  "  Popular  Names  of  British  Plants,"  pub- 
lished by  Williams  &  Norgate,  will  just  suit  you. 

T.  P.  C. — A  quadri-foliate  leaf  of  Trifolium  repens,  ap- 
parently ;  but  we  cannot  state  positively  from  an  outline 
sketch. 

J.  W.  C—  Had  you  carefully  examined  our  first  volume,  it 
would  have  saved  you  the  trouble  of  writing. 

VV.  W.  E. — Oh,  dear  no!  nothing  of  the  kind.  They  are 
very  common  galls,  figured,  as  well  as  the  insects  that  pro- 
duce them,  in  a  previous  volume  of  this  journal. 

R.  H.  W. — Probably  a  species  of  Weevil :  we  should  not  at- 
tempt to  name  it  without  seeing  it. 

W.  H.  S. — It  would  have  been  quite  as  easy  to  have  ex- 
amined the  water  with  a  microscope  as  to  have  asked  of  us. 
You  would  probably  have  found  nothing. 

B.  B.—  It  is  useless  sending  us  spotted  leaves  to  name  their 
parasites,  unless  there  is  something  to  examine.  The  micro- 
scope would  soon  inform  you  whether  any  fungus  is  present. 
The  old  fable  of  "  the  waggoner  and  Hercules  "  is  worthy  of 
remembrance. 

E.  W.— No.  3  is  Pol>/podium  vulgar?.,  the  others  insufficient 
to  name. 

J.  F.  C. — Wc  know  of  no  printed  labels  for  foreign  shells. 

J.  C— We  could  not  judge  unless  we  saw  the  manuscript. 

W.  H.  B. — Numerous  communications  on  aquaria  in  all  our 
preceding  volumes. 

W.  N.  E.  wants  to  know  the  best  modem  work  on  meteor- 
ology. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice. — Only  one  "  Exchange''  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Brita'n)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  J  all,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Polariscope. — Ox  and  sheep  hoof,  trans,  and  long.,  for 
for  other  good  polarizing  objects  and  stamp. — C.  D.,  18/, 
Oxford  Street,  Mile  End,  E. 

Liassic  Belemnites,  very  perfect,  from  Lyme  Regis 
and  Charmouth.  Tor  recent  Echini  starfish  and  Crustacea, 
send  list.— Address  C.  K.  R.,  2,  Redland  Vale,  Redland,  near 
Bristol. 

~Ec.cs  of  British  birds  in  exchange  for  British  shells. — F. 
W.  Stansfield,  Vale  Cottage,  Todmorden. 

Muscular  Fibre  ok  Calf.— Slides  of  this  preparation, 
well  mounted,  in  exchange  for  other  good  named  slides.  Send 
slide  to  E.  Ward,  38,  Bradford  Street,  Coventry. 

Barbadoes  Polycystina,  mounted  in  symmetrical  groups, 
opaque,  in  balsam,  in  exchange  for  injections  or  sections 
of  crystals.  — George  H.  Stubington,  Station  Hill,  Basing- 
stoke. 

British  recent  Shells  and'  Fossils  offered  for  British 
recent  Crustacea  and  Echinodermata— T.  D.  R.,  37,  Arundel 
Street,  Strand,  W.C. 

Wanted  good  mounted  objects  for  the  microscope,  in 
exchange  for  Lepidoptera,  &c— H.  S.,  Norwood  Lodge, 
Streatham,  Surrey. 

Mosses. — Orthotrichum  phyllanthnm  for  others.  Send  lists 
to  J.  Bowman,  Cockan  Lamplugh,  Cockermouth,  Cumber- 
land. 

The  Rev.  John  Hanson  (late  of  1,  Bagby  Square,  but  now 
of  35,  Elmwood  Street,  Leeds)  offers  Desmids  and  Alg»  for 
anything  good. 

Microscopic  leaf-fungi  and  lichens,  unmounted,  for  ob- 
jects of  interest,  unmounted.  —  H.  D.,  Claremont  House, 
Waterloo,  Liverpool. 

For  wings,  legs,  and  eyes  of  Dragon-fly,  send  stamped  en- 
velope  and  other  material  to  J.  Needham,  jun.,  2",  Approach 
Road,  Victoria  Park. 

Bombyx  Mori,  the  Silk-worm  Moth — eggs— by  sending 
stamps  and  box  to  John  Purdue,  Ridgeway,  Plympton,  Devon. 

For  sand  containing  abundance  of  Foraminifera,  &c.,  send 
stamped  directed  envelope,  with  any  microscopical  object  of 
interest,  to  Sidney  J.  TinUall,  95,  St.  Paul's  Road,  Walworth, 
S.E. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal."     February,  1871. 

"  The  Canadian  Naturalist."     Vol.  V.,  No.  2. 

"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  262,  263,  264,  265,  266. 

"The  Natural  History  of  British  D!atomace8e."   By  Arthur 
Scott  Donkin,  M.D.     Part  I.     Van  Voorst. 

"  Characters  of  Undescribed  Lepidoptera  heterocera."     By- 
Francis  Walker,  K.L.S.     London:  Janson. 

"A  list  of  Hymenoptera  collected  by  J.  K.  Lord  in  Egypt, 
&c."    By  Francis  Walker,  F.L.S.     London:  Janson. 

"The  Gardener's  Magazine,"  for  February,  1871. 

"  The   correlation   of  Zymotic   diseases."      By  A.  Wolff, 
F.R.C.S.     London :  Churchill. 

"Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."    Vol.  V.,  No.  S. 

"Report  of  the  Cheltenham  College  Natural  History  Society 
for  the  year  18/0." 

"The  Year- Book  of  Facts  in  Science  and  Art," for  18/0.   By 
John  limbs.     London:  Lockwood  &  Co. 


Co 
S.  I. 
H.  E 
C.  E. 
—A. 
J.  M 
E.W 
— C 

—  H. 
R.  H 

—  R. 


MMUNICATIONS     RECEIVED. — H.    D. —  F.    I.    B. — C.    B. — 

T.— C.  B.  A.— T.  P.  B.-J.W.  K.— W.  S.  P.— R.  H.- 
.  w.— J.  N.— J.  H.— J.  P.-C.  H.-J.  R.  D.— W.  B.  F.— 

O.-J.  C.-H.  C.  S.-J.  F.  C.-J.  K.  J.— H.  C.  L.-C.  D. 
L._G.  H.-L.  S.-C.  K.  R.-A.  H.-T.  C.T.-F.  W.  S.- 
.,  Jun.— T.  W.— J.  E— T.  P.  C— H.  E.  W.— J.  W.  C— 

-G.  H.  B.-G.  B.-W.  J.-W.  S.-W.  H.  B.-W.  P.  M. 
J.  W.  R.-R.  T.  A.-R.  L.-J.  B.  S.-H.  E.  W.-F.  W.  M. 

B.-W.  J.  S.-H.  P.-G.  H.  S.— W.  H.  S.— T.  D.  R.— 
.  W.— G.  H.  H.— J.  B.— W.  P.-J.  B.— H.  R.— W.  W.  E. 
T.,  M.A.—C.  H.— E.  W. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


73 


WHAT  THE  PIECE    OF  JET  HAD  TO  SAY! 


By  JOHN  E.  TAYLOR,  E.G.S.,  etc. 


OW  few  of  the  beau- 
ties, whose   delicate 
ears,    Leaving    bo- 
soms,   and    supple 
wrists  I  am  made 
to    adorn,    are    ac- 
quainted with   the 
faintest  outline   of 
my  history  and  ex- 
perience !  Not  tbat 
I  can  esteem  it  my  especial 
privilege    to    be     considered 
above  other  common-place  ob- 
jects in  this  respect,  for  many 
others  have  a  biography  quite 
as  romantic  as  my  own.    But 
I  will  leave  it  to  my  hearers 
to  say  whether  my  story  is  not 
worth  listening  to. 

The  period  when  I  was  born, 
and  in  whose  rocks  I  am  most 
commonly  found,  is  that  known 
to  geologists  by  the  uame  of 
the  Lias.  In  the  lignite  por- 
tion of  its  strata,  among  the 
"Alum  Shales,"  I  occur  iu 
my  natural  state  as  lumps  and  nodules.  When 
purest,  I  am  deemed  most  valuable,  on  accouut 
of  my  use  in  the  mauufacture  of  the  well-known 
jet  ornaments.  I  am  purely  of  vegetable  origin — 
as  much  so  as  coal  itself— although  I  am  usually 
considered  a  species  of  "  black  amber."  Like 
the  yellow  variety  which  goes  by  that  name,  I  am 
electric  when  brisldy  rubbed.  As  a  fossil  pitch 
or  gum,  I  am  related  to  the  peculiar  coniferous 
flora  which  grew  so  abundantly,  although  in  com- 
paratively few  species,  during  the  Liassic  epoch. 
The  chief  features  of  these  vegetable  forms  I  shall 
presently  endeavour  to  describe  to  the  best  of  my 
recollection. 

Eirst  let  me  say  a  word  as  to  the  rock  formation 
in  which  I  am  found.    Why  it  is  called  the  "  Lias  " 
No.  76. 


few  wise  men  know,   so  that  I  may  be  excused, 
seeing  this  uame  was  given  to  it  so  many  centuries 
after  my  birth.     It  is  usually  regarded  as  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  word  "  layers,"  and  I  think  this  is  very 
probable,  as  the  general  appearance  of  the  strata  is 
such  as  to  cause  such  a  name  to  be  given  to  them 
par  parenthese.     Thin    bands  of    dark    limestone 
alternate  with  equally  thin  bands  of  dark  shale,  like 
so  many  sandwiches ;  this   "  ribbon-like  "  arrange- 
ment is  very  persistent,  at  least  iu  England,  and 
from  it  may  have   come  the  name.    The  modern 
science  of  geology  includes,  in  its  technical  list, 
many  names  which  had    a  humble  origin  among 
quarrymen  and  miners.    However  that  may  be,  I 
well  remember  the  alternate  stages  of  quiet  aud 
disturbance  which  affected  the  sea  near  which  I  was 
born.      Sometimes  its  waters  would  remain  calm 
and  clear  for  years,  during  which  colonies  of  shell- 
fish or  corals  would  grow  over  its  bottom,  and  their 
accumulated  remains  form  a  bed  of  limestone.    And 
then  the  waters  were  thick  and  turbid  with  mud, 
which  gradually  settled  to  the  bottom,  lying  on  the 
top  of  the  shell  bed,  and  now  appearing  as  a  layer 
of  shale.     In  fact,  the  alternation  I  have  spoken  of 
is  itself  a  proof  of  the  physical  conditions  which 
affected  the  Liassic  sea.    The   thickness    of  the 
various  strata  is  nothing  like  so  great  as  that  of  the 
older  formations,  although  the  fossil  remains  are  far 
more   numerous,  both  in  species  and  individuals. 
In  the  "  struggle  for  life,"  which  had  been  per- 
petually going  on  since  the  first  appearance  of  life 
in  the  Laurentian  epoch,  many  new  forms  had  been 
developed.    The  total  thickness  of  the  Lias  is  only 
eleven  hundred  feet,  and  this  is  usually  separated 
into  three  divisions,  termed  respectively  the  Upper, 
Middle,  and  Lower.    The  upper  portion  consists 
chiefly  of  clays,  whilst  the  middle  is  composed  of 
"  marlstone,"  crowded  with  fossils.  This  is  remark- 
able for  its  containing  iron-ore  in  such  abundance 
as  to  be  worked  for  that  valuable  metal  in  some 
localities.  The  Lower  Lias  is  that  most  characterized 
by  partings  oi  snale  and  limestone,  already  men- 

E 


7-1 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


tioued,  and  is  by  far  the  thickest  member  of  the 
group. 

The  dry  land  of  this  period  was  broken  into  a 
series  of  undulations,  as  it  is  at  present,  although 
the  mountains  were  not  so  high  as  they  are  now. 
The  uplands  were  thickly  covered  with  woods  and 
forests  of  Araucarian  pines  and  thickets  of  fern ; 
whilst  the  lowlands  were  green  with  densely-packed 
cycads,  plants  now  confined  to  tropical  regions. 
About  one  hundred  species  of  Lias  plants  are 
known  to  science,  but  not  one  has  yet  been  met 
with  which  belonged  to  the  class  of  which  the  oak, 
ash,  or  nettle  are  familiar  examples.  Indeed,  this 
group  was  not  introduced  until  the  Cretaceous 
epoch,  which  followed  the  Liassic  after  the  lapse  of 
enormous  periods  of  time.  The  ferns  were  remark- 
able for  having  reticulated  veins  traversing  their 
fronds.  In  the  damper  places,  and  by  the  river- 
sides, there  grew  miniature  forests  of  equisetum, 
nearly  allied  to  existing  species.  This  was  almost 
the  only  "  English  "  feature  about  the  Liassic  land- 
scape. The  trees  grew  in  many  places  on  the  low- 
lands by  the  sea,  and  the  dark  mud  was  often 
charged  with  the  resin  lumps,  which,  under  the 
name  of  "jet,"  now  compose  my  personal  substance. 
Amid  this  somewhat  monotonous  vegetation  there 
lived  several  species  of  miniature  marsupials — the 
only  warm-blooded  creatures  then  in  existence — 
which  found  the  chief  means  of  their  subsistence  in 
the  hosts  of  insects  which  peopled  grove  and  plain. 
Land  reptiles,  also,  were  not  absent,  both  as  croco- 
diles, tree-lizards,  and  flying-lizards. 

This  was,  indeed,  "  the  Age  of  Reptiles."  Rep- 
tilian life  was  then  modified  to  the  various  functions 
now  fulfilled  by  a  higher  class— the  Mammalia. 
In  the  air,  on  the  land,  in  the  water,  one  met  witli 
reptilian  adaptations  at  every  step.  The  places  now 
filled  by  the  whales  and  seals  were  then  occupied  by 
the  Ichthyosaurus  and  the  Plesiosaurus.  The  great 
land  reptiles  (Deinosauria) ,  which  became  so  abundant 
during  the  later — I  may  say  the  continuing  "  Oolite  " 
period — stood  in  the  room  of  modern  carnivora  and 
herbivora.  Instead  of  bats  and  birds  winging  their 
way  through  the  air,  there  were  groups  of  Ptero- 
dactyles,  some  of  them  as  large  as  the  greatest  bird 
now  living.  And,  just  as  there  is  a  certain  me- 
chanical and  anatomical  arrangement  now  charac- 
terizing the  specialized  mammalia,  and  thus  fitting 
them  for  their  various  functions  and  places,  so 
during  the  "  Age  of  Reptiles  "  the  relatively  lower 
forms  were  built  on  the  same  plan.  The  modifica- 
tion which  converts  the  limbs  of  a  whale  into  fins, 
also  converted  those  of  the  Ichthyosaurus  into 
paddles ;  the  adaptation  which  provides  a  fulcrum 
for  the  muscles  of  a  bird  by  fusing  two  or  more 
bones  together,  we  find  applied  to  the  flying-lizards 
of  the  Lias  period.  So  wonderfully  simple  is  the 
great  plan  on  which  the  Creator  has  chosen  always 
to  govern  the  development  of  organic  beings. 


Sometimes  the  lumps  of  resin  which  had  oozed 
out  of  the  pine-trees  floated  seawards,  and  were 
afterwards  buried  in  the  muds  along  the  bottom . 
At  others,  the  marsh  lauds  where  the  woods  grew 
were  encroached  on  by  the  sea,  and  from  terrestrial 
passed  to  marine  conditions.  It  was  whilst  I  lay 
thus  that  I  formed  my  vivid  impressions  of  the 
strange  creatures  which  swam  above  me,  and  whose 
deceased  bodies  occasionally  sank  down  into  the 
mud  to  rest  by  my  side,  until  I  was  rescued,  in  my 
mineral  condition  as  "jet,"  by  that  complex  and 
greedy  being  called  "  Man  "  !  I  will  endeavour  to 
recall  the  most  remarkable  of  these  creatures.  Eirst 
there  was  the  Ichthyosaurus,  or  rather,  several 
species  of  that  reptile :  as  its  name  implies  ("fish- 
lizard  "),  it  was  modified  to  a  purely  marine  life  ; 
which  its  deeply  double  convex  vertebrae  also  indi- 
cate. Some  of  the  larger  individuals  attained  a 
length  of  thirty  feet,  and  I  remember  them  going 
through  all  the  usual  routine  of  their  reptilian  life 
in  the  waters  along  whose  floor  I  lay  and  watched. 
They  were  carnivorous  in  their  habits,  feeding  on  the 
larger  fishes,  and  even  on  one  another.  To  the  best 
of  my  belief  they  differed  from  most  reptiles  in  bring- 
ing forth  their  young  alive.  Many  a  lime  have  I 
seen  one  of  their  carcases  floating  by  means  of  the 
decomposed  gases  right  over  where  I  lay ;  by-and- 
by  the  gases  would  escape,  and  the  body  sink  to 
the  muddy  bottom ;  there  it  lay  and  was  mineral- 
ized, and  thence  the  geologist  now  disinters  it  iu 
long  ages  subsequent  to  the  elevation  of  this  sea- 
bed into  dry  land.  And  his  researches  bear  out  the 
truth  of  what  I  say,  for  he  frequently  finds  the  fos- 
silized remains  of  the  reptile's  last  meal  enclosed 
within  the  ribs  where  the  stomach  once  lay,  and 
even  the  fossil  f octal  remains  of  its  young  within  the 
pelvic  cavities.  The  Ichthyosaurus  was  indeed  the 
tyrant  of  the  Liassic  seas ;  its  crocodile-like  head 
was  armed  with  scores  of  conical  teeth,  implanted 
in  a  continuous  groove ;  the  rest  of  its  body  was  not 
unlike  that  of  a  small  whale,  having  similar  paddles 
and  tail. 

Still  more  nearly  related  to  the  Lizard  family  (as 
its  name  implies)  was  the  Plesiosaurus,  whose 
habits,  however,  were  quite  different  from  its  more 
tyrannical  congener.  Its  head  was  much  smaller, 
although  thoroughly  reptilian,  and  terminated  a  long 
neck,  not  unlike  that  of  the  swan,  or  even  longer, 
for  it  sometimes  contained  as  many  as  forty 
vertebrae :  its  teeth  were  implanted  in  sockets,  like 
those  of  the  modern  crocodile,  so  that,  with  a  neck 
resembling  a  snake,  a  body  and  tail  like  those  of  a 
quadruped,  and  having  paddles  like  the  turtle,  the 
Plesiosaurus  had  combined  in  itself  structural  adap- 
tations now  distributed  among  half  a  dozen  widely 
separated  animals.  The  largest  of  these  queer- 
looking  reptiles  was  twenty  feet  in  length.  Usually, 
its  locality  was  by  the  seashore,  in  the  shallower 
waters,  where,  by  the  aid  ,of  its  long  and  flexible 


EARDWICKE'S    SCI  EN  CE-GOSSIP. 


neck,  it  could  dart  at  and  seize  the  finny  tribes  as 
they  swam  past.  It  breathed  air,  as  the  whale  does, 
and,  indeed,  as  the  Ichthyosaurus  also  did.  The 
Pterodactyle,  or  winged  lizard,  was  buried  at  sea 
simply  because  it  was  sometimes  carried  out  by  the 
wind,  or  else  because  its  carcases  were  carried  sea- 
wards by  the  rivers ;  but  it  sometimes  frequented 
the  shallower  mud  flats  on  fishing  expeditions. 
Anyhow,  its  remains  were  frequently  buried  in  the 
deposits  then  forming.  If  the  Plesiosaurus  was  a 
strange-looking  creature,  believe  me,  the  Pte- 
rodactyle was  much  more  singular.  Some  of  the 
specimens  must  have  been  nearly  fourteen  feet 
across  the  spread  of  wings  !  Imagine  a  creature  of 
this  kind,  possessing  a  long-snouted,  crocodile-like 
head,  and  a  long  bird-like  neck,  with  wings  like 
those  of  the  Bat,  a  smallish  body,  and  little  or  no 
tail !  And  yet,  this  type  of  reptile  did  not  depart 
from  the  normal  form  more  than  does  the  Duck-billed 
Platypus  from  existing  mammalia.  The  Pterodoctyle 
could  perch,  on  trees,  hang  against  perpendicular 
surfaces,  stand  firmly  on  the  ground,  hop  like  a  bird, 
or  creep  like  a  bat. 

So  much  for  the  reptiles  with  which  necessity 
made  me  acquainted.  I  cannot  speak  much  for 
the  others,  as  most  of  them  were  not  very  common 
until  later  on.  But  the  fish  which  lived  in  the 
Lias  sea  were  almost  as  strange,  compared  with 
recent  forms,  as  the  reptiles.  Most  or  all  of  them 
were  covered  with  bony  plates  instead  of  scales, 
each  plate  being  glossy  with  an  enamelled  varnish. 
Among  the  commonest  of  these  fishes  were  the 
Dapedius,  which  had  its  scales  set  like  a  mosaic 
pavement — hence  its  name.  The  Lcpidotus,  or  "  bony 
pike,"  was  related  to  a  family  still  living  in  Africa 
and  North  America,  and  its  haunt  was  usually  off 
the  mouths  of  rivers,  or  in  estuaries.  The  JEch- 
modus  had  a  peculiar,  "  bream-like "  appearance, 
whilst  its  small  mouth  was  set  with  sharp,  needle- 
like teeth.  The  Acrodus  was  a  fish  which  lived  on 
mollusca,  &c,  and  its  teeth  were  adapted  for  bruising 
and  crushing  them.  In  their  fossil  condition  they 
go  by  the  vulgar  name  of  "  fossil  leeches,"  on 
account  of  the  fine  strise  which  converge  towards 
the  centre  of  the  upper  surface.  The  Hybodous 
was  a  fish  of  somewhat  different  structure,  having 
shark -like  teeth,  and  very  formidable  and  well-de- 
veloped spines  on  the  dorsal  fins.  Hosts  of  smaller 
fry  abounded,  but  my  recollection  does  not  go  back 
so  vividly  towards  them. 

It  would  certainly  be  a  gross  mistake  not  to 
recall  the  appearance  of  one  very  remarkable  object 
— the  Bxtraerinus,  or  Pentacrinus,  as  it  used  to  be 
called.  This  was  the  commonest  of  the  Eucrinites, 
which  lived  in  the  seas  of  the  period.  Of  course, 
my  hearers  are  well  aware  that  this  object  is  nearly 
related  to  the  "feather-star"  (Comaiula),  which  is 
anything  but  rare  in  British  sea3.  But,  instead  of 
being  free,  as  is  the  case  with  the  latter  object,  the 


Extracrinus  was  usually  fixed.  Sometimes  this  was 
to  drifting  wood,  but  usually  to  the  sea-bottom, 
where  it  grew  in  thick  submarine  forests.  In  some 
places  the  Lower  Lias  shale  is  composed  of  hardly 
anything  else  than  the  remains  of  these  fossils. 
Erequently  they  are  changed  into  iron  sulphite,  or 
pyrites,  and  then  they  have  a  very  brilliant  ap- 
pearance when  first  laid  open  with  the  chisel.  This 
splendour,  however,  is  very  transitory,  for  the  action 
of  the  atmosphere  plays  sad  havoc  with  them.  The 
whole  struc:  ire  of  the  Extracnnus  was  built  up  of 
little  ossicles,  or  joints,  which  fitted  one  into  an- 
other, so  that  mobility  as  well  as  strength  was 
obtained.  The  arms  divided  and  subdivided  into 
an  infinite  complexity,  but  all  were  arranged  around 
the  central  mouth.  One  individual  alone  contained 
scores  of  thousands  of  joints  or  ossicles,  like  living 
nets.  These  complex  arms  groped  through  the 
waters  in  search  of  food.  Nothing  could  be  more 
graceful  or  elegant  than  the  forms  and  motions  of 
these  extinct  crinoids. 

In  many  places  the  sea-bottom  was  a  perfect 
aggregation  of  colonies  of  conchiferons  shells.  The 
Ammonite  and  Nautilus  floated  on  the  surface,  and 
sometimes  crept  along  the  bottom.  That  strange- 
looking  cuttlefish-like  creature,  the  Belemnite, 
swarmed  in  such  numbers  that  the  internal  bones 
sometimes  lay  on  the  sea-bottom  in  hundreds.  One 
species,  at  least,  of  the  true  cuttle-fish  lived  along 
with  them,  for  its  ink-bag  has  been  found  fossilized 
and  its  ink  so  unexpended  that  the  creature's  like- 
ness was  drawn  with  it !  The  Nautilus  was  an  old 
inhabitant  of  the  world  when  the  Ammonite  was 
introduced  on  the  stage  of  existence.  As  a  family, 
it  had  reached  the'  maximum  of  its  existence,  and 
was  slowly  waning  into  extinction,  although  it  has 
been  able  to  survive  the  flourishing  class  of  Ammon- 
ites, for  one  species  still  represents  it !  Seventeen 
European  species  of  Nautilus  are  known  from  the 
Lias  strata  alone.  But  the  Ammonites  were  by  far 
the  most  abundant,  and  I  may  say  also,  by  far  the 
most  beautiful,  of  all  objects  which  lived  at  this 
time.  Nothing  could  be  more  graceful  and  varied 
than  the  outward  forms  of  different  species.  They 
differed  in  structure  from  the  Nautilus  in  having 
the  divisional  chambers  foliated  along  their  edges, 
instead  of  being  straight.  Another  leading  distinc- 
tion was  the  position  of  the  air-tube,  or  siphuncle, 
which  did  not  run  centrally  through  the  chambers, 
as  it  did  in  the  Nautilus,  but  along  the  margin  of 
the  outside,  or  back,  of  the  shell.  No  fewer  than 
266  species  of  Ammonites  are  peculiar  to  the 
Lias  deposits  of  Europe,  whilst  those  of  Britain 
alone  contain  128.  Next  in  abundance  to  them 
were  the  Belemnites — vulgarly  called  "  Thunder- 
bolts "—above  mentioned.  The  Lias  strata  of  Great 
Britain  have  yielded  105  species,  the  British  beds 
alone  having  produced  fifty-seven  of  them.  The 
Brachiopodous,  or  "Lamp-shells,"  which  were  so 

e  2 


76 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


abundant  during  the    Silurian  and  Carboniferous 
periods,  were  much  more  scantily  developed  in 
Liassic  times.    Here  you  see  the  last  of  the  Spirifer. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  true  conchiferous  species, 
which  had  lain  in  the  background  during  the  earlier 
epochs  of  our  planet's  history,  now  began  to  assert 
that  supremacy  which  they  still  hold  in  even  a 
greater  degree.     No  fewer  than  625  species  of 
Conchifera  have  been  found  in  the  European  Liassic 
deposits  alone.    The  commonest  among  these  were 
the  species  of  Oryphce — a  sort  of   curved  fossil 
oyster,  whose  abundance  sometimes  makes  up  entire 
beds  of  limestone.    The  Hippodium,  Plagiostoma, 
and  Avicula  are  also  very  common.    Of  brachio- 
podous  shells,  including    such    familiar  types  as 
Rhynchonella,  Terebratzila,  &c,  there  are  as  many  as 
115  species  peculiar  to  the  Lias  strata  of  Europe. 
Taking  the  summary  of  fossils  which  have  been 
found  in  the  strata  of  this  age  in  Britain,  including 
plants,   insects,   shells,   and  vertebrata  generally, 
there  are  no  fewer  than  1,228  species  known  to 
science.    This,  of  course,  is  not  all ;  for  the  list  of 
known  species  has  been  more  than  doubled  within 
the  last  twenty  years.    It  belongs  to  the  science  of 
the  future  to  develop  the  fauna  and  flora  of  each 
period  of  the  past,  but  I  am  firmly  convinced  that 
its  efforts  will  be  only  to  prove  the  continuity  of 
the  great  Life-scheme,  whose  broken   fragments 
are  enclosed  in  the  rocks.    And  yet,  broken  and 
shattered  though  they  are,  they  are  capable  of  being 
so  put  together  that  man — the  last  and  highest  link 
of  the  series— is  able  to  spell  out  the  grand  plan  of 
Creation,  and  to  turn  with  mingled  feelings  of  awe 
and  admiration  towards  its  Great  Designer ! 


ROBIN   REDBREAST 

rpHE  adventurous  redbreast  that  found  himself 
-*-  a  captive  in  Beaumaris  appears  to  have  taken 
kindly  to  his  quarters. 

I  remember  once  reading  of  the  robin  as  an  un- 
grateful fellow  creeping  round  your  door  soliciting 
even  the  crumbs ;  but  when  summer  comes  again 
off  he  goes  to  the  wood,  and  is  not  seen  again  until 
the  vagabond  is  driven  by  frost  and  snow  to  visit 
the  door  of  his  old  friends.  Such  is  not  quite  my 
opinion  of  this  fine  songster,  which  is  carefully  fed 
by  many  both  winter  and  summer ;  one  might 
almost  consider  bobby  a  small  philosopher  for  find- 
ing out  the  when  and  where  to  find  so  many  friends 
to  welcome  his  repeated  truants. 

I  should  have  been  very  glad  to  have  heard  that 
the  feathered  pet  of  your  correspondent,  Mrs. 
Watney,  had  had  something  to  do  in  building  the 
nest  containing  the  eggs  of  the  canary  mentioned; 
but,  alas  !  I  am  of  the  same  opinion  as  your  corre- 
spondent,— that  is,  bobby  does  not  understand  it. 

The  robin  in  character  is  secluded,  i.e.  they  do 
not  congregate  and  fly  in  flocks  as  linnets,  gold- 


finches, and  other  birds  at  spring  and  autumn ;  each 
robin,  or  pair  of  robins,  have  their  locality,  upon 
which  no  bobby  can  intrude  without  a  combat 
taking  place.  In  winter  you  will  find  them  taking 
possession  of  some  particular  spot  about  a  barn, 
garden,  hedge,  or  tree,  from  which  he  will  drive  an 
intruder  at  once  away.  In  a  cage  he  soon  becomes 
tame ;  but  I  never  knew  them  sociable  with  other 
birds,  neither  will  they  agree  with  each  other.  I 
have  tried  year  after  year  to  get  them  to  nest  in  my 
aviary,  but  without  success  ;  I  find  they  quarrel  at 
times,  one  is  master  for  a  short  time,  after  which 
his  opponent  takes  courage,  and  then  the  tables  are 
turned ;  but  as  a  rule  they  give  each  other  a  wide 
berth.  Where  robins  are  kept  together,  you  get  very 
little  song,  and  that  only  very  soft,  so  that  the  sweet, 
melodious,  free,  and  somewhat  thrilling  song  is  lost. 

It  is  not  by  any  means  an  easy  task  to  keep  a 
robin  in  full  song ;  the  best  cage  for  the  purpose  is 
the  same  as  those  which  are  used  to  keep  nightin- 
gales in, — a  cage  with  a  wire  front  only.  He  will  re- 
quire raw  meat,  egg  chopped  fine,  mixed  with 
crumbs  of  bread,  also  meal-worms,  or  other  live 
food,  e.g.  earwigs,  spiders,  &c. ;  taking  care  to  let 
him  have  a  bath  frequently ;  but  with  all  this  care 
it  is  not  a  long-lived  bird,  seldom  living  over  three 
years  in  a  cage. 

Strange  notions  and  odd  sayings  are  often  heard 
about  robins ;  many  will  not  keep  a  robin  upon  any 
considerations,  telling  you  they  are  so  unlucky ; 
others  say  they  are  sure  to  die,  and  robins  never 
sing. 

Some  years  ago  I  directed  the  attention  of  an  inn- 
keeper to  a  robin  singing  in  the  hedge  a  short  dis- 
tance from  where  wc  were  standing.  He  seemed  to 
be  a  man  of  ordinary  intelligence ;  yet  he  thought 
I  must  be  mistaken,  telling  me,  with  an  air  of 
assurance,  "  robins  don't  sing,  sir,"  adding  that  he 
had  lived  in  all  parts  of  the  country  and  never  heard 
a  robin  sing.  Again,  a  short  time  ago,  being  in  con- 
versation with  an  old  woman  the  whole  of  which 
time  a  robin  was  singing,  near  the  cottage  in  which 
she  had  lived  from  childhood,  and  wishing  to  hear 
the  old  lady's  ideas  of  the  robiu,  I  said,  "  How  beau- 
tiful the  robin  sings."  Evidently  thinking  I  was  try- 
ing to  deceive  her,  she  cunningly  said,  "  That  isn't  a 
robn ;  robns  don't  sing."  The  bird  was  still  singing 
beautifully,  but  I  could  not  convince  her  that  it 
was  a  robin. 

Robins  sing  nearly  all  the  year  through,  but,  re- 
tiring to  the  wood,  their  song  is  not  so  easily  dis- 
tinguished from  other  warbles.  If  caged  at  the 
proper  season  of  the  year,  and  fed  with  care,  they 
will  sing  many  months  in  captivity.  To  get  a  loud 
song,  you  should  cage  your  bird  about  the  middle 
of  December,  not  before,  nor  should  it  be  much  after, 
for  you  must  remember  robins  are  early  at  nest, 
and  then  are  very  difficult  to  keep  alive ;  on  the 
other  hand,  those  taken  in  autumn  will  live  almost 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


77 


upon  bread-crumbs,  but  do  uot  sing  for  any  length 
of  time,  and  then  not  loud  j  in  fact  they  are  not 
worth  anything  if  caged  too  soon.  If  kept  in  a  shady 
part  of  a  room,  like  most  birds  so  treated  it  will 
sing  by  gaslight. 

It  is  not  an  unusual  thing  for  canary  hens  to 
build  and  lay  eggs ;  I  have  known  two  hens  kept  in 
a  cage  and  both  birds  build  and  lay  eggs. 

As  for  the  robin  and  canary  mentioned  by  your 
correspondent,  I  do  not  think  there  is  the  slightest 
probability  of  the  eggs  being  worth  anything;  it 
would  be  indeed  a  valuable  hybrid  both  for  good 
song  and  beautiful  feather.  One  can  imagine  the 
fine  bill,  large  eye,  and  red-tinted  breast  of  such  a 
rare  mule ;  but  the  habits  of  the  two  are  so  different 
that  I  am  afraid  it  is  more  than  we  shall  ever  get. 

Charles  J.  W.  RuDD. 


CANDLE-SNUFF  FUNGUS. 

THERE  is  no  more  curious  or  interesting  object 
to  be  found  in  a  stroll  round  the  garden  than 
the  candle-snuff  fungus.  Scarcely  a  stake  has  stood 
in  the  ground  through  the  winter,  perhaps  as  a  sup- 
port to  raspberry  canes,  perhaps  for  one  out  of 
fifty  other  purposes  for  which  a  stake  has  been 
required,  but  it  is  garnished  at  its  base  with  this 
object.  How  often  has  the  wanderer  taken  his 
stroll  to  see  what  damage  the  frost  has  done,  what 
are  the  spring  prospects,  or  to  count  upon  summer 
fruits,  without  seeing  at  the  bottom  of  his  old 
stakes  two  or  three  or  more  jet-black,  velvety  out- 
growths with  whitened  tips  ?  How  often  has  he 
passed  them  by,  wondering  for  a  moment  what  they 
are,  or  how  they  came  there,  and  then  thinking  no 
more  about  them?  Better  confess  to  the  sin  at 
once,  and  learn  something,  if  it  is  to  be  learnt ;  then 
go  and  sin  no  more.  Although  so  common  in  such 
company,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  stake  is 
essential  to  the  fungus,  although  some  kind  of  old 
wood  is.  Not  only  stakes,  but  old  stumps,  or  half- 
buried  old  wood,  is,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  when 
left  undisturbed  long  enough,  the  matrix,  from 
whence  the  candle-snuff  fungus  is  developed.  The 
name  by  which  this  fungus  is  known  to  some  people 
is  not  inappropriate,  in  fact,  it  is  as  good  as  another 
that  we  have  heard  proposed  for  it,  the  "  stag's- 
horn  fungus."  It  is  very  often  branched  in  a 
similar  manner  to  a  stag's  horn,  but  is  sometimes 
quite  as  simple  and  uninviting  as  a  long  candle- 
snuff.  By-the-by,  the  time  seems  to  be  approach- 
ing when  "candle-snuff"  also  will  be  a  term 
requiring  definition.  In  these  days  of  gaslight, 
ozokerit  candles,  paraffine  lamps,  and  other  modern 
inventions,  the  old  tallow  candles  of  our  childhood, 
with  their  long  black  "  snuffs,"  are  nearly  forgotten, 
and  many  of  the  "  children  of  the  period  "  have  no 
experience  of  "a  long  snuff."    From  little  more 


than  an  inch  to  three  or  four  inches  in  length,  grow 
these  fungoid  snuffs,  sometimes  in  clusters,  some- 
times only  two  or  three  together,  and  sometimes 
singly.  It  is  very  usual  for  them  to  be  branched 
in  a  forked  manner  once  or  twice,  but  occasionally 
they  are  not  branched  at  all.  At  the  base  they  are 
more  or  less  rounded,  and  velvety  black.     Near  the 


Fig.  4j.  Xylaria  hyjwxylon,  Ccmidiophorous  state. 

apex  they  are  flattened,  smooth,  or  nearly  so,  and 
whitened,  as  if  dusted  with  flour  or  chalk.  This  is 
the  appearance  presented  by  its  most  common  con- 
dition, in  which  it  does  not  bear  its  complete  fruit. 
The  substance  of  the  whole  plant,  except  the  ex- 
treme tips,  is  tough  and  corky ;  there  is  a  mouldy 
odour  when  fresh;  it  dries  readily,  shrivels  very 
little,  and  may  be  preserved  for  years. 


Fig.  46.  Conidia  of  Xylaria  hypoxylon. 

A  few  minutes  will  be  well  spent  in  examining 
more  closely  this  barren  state,  especially  the  white 
powder  of  the  tips.     The  cellular,  corky,  white 


78 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE. GO SSIP. 


interior  portion  of  the  stem  presents  no  extra- 
ordinary feature  over  which  we  need  to  linger.  If 
we  remove  a  little  of  the  powdery  white  substance, 
and  place  it  in  a  drop  of  water  under  the  micro- 
scope, it  will  be  found  to  consist  of  myriads  of 
colourless  cells,  of  a  narrowly  lanceolate  shape, 
springing  from  the  tips  of  transparent  jointed 
threads.  These  are  one  form  of  fruit,  it  is  true,  but 
a  very  secondary  one,  and  are  called  "conidia." 
What  relation  do  they  bear  to  the  more  perfect 
fruit  to  be  hereafter  described  ?  "Ay,  there's  the 
rub."  It  is  very  possible  that  they  do  bear  some 
relation  to,  or  influence  the  production  of,  the 
sporidia,  but  how  ?  Is  it  likely  that  they  will  ulti- 
mately be  discovered  to  have  fecundative  powers, 
or  will  the  spermatia  be  found  elsewhere,  and 
these  bodies  settle  down  to  a  secondary  fruit,  and 
nothing  more  ?  It  is  very  easy  to  ask  such  questions 
— it  is  well  that  such  questions  should  be  asked,  but 
it  is-not  so  very  easy  to  answer  them.  The  answer 
may  come  with  all-suflicient  evidence  one  day,  but 
at  present  there  is  no  reply  save  what  is  grounded 
on  speculation. 


Fig.  47.  Xi/lnrin  hyposeylon,  perfect  condition  with  section, 
and  asci  with  sporidia,  magnified  350. 


A  more  complete  and  perfect  form  of  this  same 
fungus  occurs  later  on  old  stumps,  and  sometimes 
at  the  bottom  of  stakes.  It  is  easily  detected  by 
the  naked  eye.  Usually  more  dwarfed,  with  the 
tips  scarcely  paler,  seldom  branched,  and  the  upper 
portion  swollen,  rounded,  and  rough  with  little 
projections;  such  is  the  condition  to  which  we 
allude.  Having  found  such  a  specimen,  let  us  cut 
it  through  longitudinally,  and  examine  the  section 
with  a  pocket  lens.  The  swollen,  roughened  upper 
portion  exhibits  a  number  of  little  blackened  points 
along  the  margin,  close  beneath  the  blackened  ex- 
ternal layer.    These,  by  means  of  a  higher  power, 


are  discovered  to  be  nearly  globose  cells  sunk  in  the 
white  corky  stroma.  Each  of  these  cells,  when 
fresh,  contains  a  little  gelatinous  nucleus.  Let  us 
call  them  immersed  perithecia,  because  the  gela- 
tinous nucleus  consists  of  the  thecas  or  asci,  here- 
after to  be  described,  around  which  {peri)  is  the 
cell-wall  of  the  perithecium.  These  perithecia  have 
a  pap-like  projection  at  the  apex,  which  causes  the 
roughness  of  the  surface  of  the  clubs.  Ultimately 
each  of  these  projections  is  pierced  with  an  orifice, 
through  which  the  sporidia  escape. 

Suppose  that  when  one  of  these  mature  clubs  or 
horns  is  found  it  is  dry,  and  the  gelatinous  con- 
tents of  the  perithecia  are  dried  up  to  a  whitish 
coating  of  the  interior  wall.  What  is  to  be  done  in 
such  a  case?  Simply  immerse  the  whole  fungus 
for  an  hour  in  water,  and,  unless  very  much  dried, 
the  cell-contents  will  resume  more  or  less  of  their 
gelatinous  character,  and  be  ready  for  examina- 
tion. Then  pick  out  one  or  two  of  the  peri- 
thecia, or,  better  still,  cut  through  them,  and  pick 
out  the  contents  of  one  or  two  on  the  point  of  a 
needle,  and  transfer  them  to  a  drop  of  water  for 
examination.  A  quarter-inch  objective  will  be 
necessary.  There  are  to  be  seen  long  cylindrical 
transparent  sacs,  each  containing  eight  dark-coloured 
bodies,  in  a  single  row.  These  are  the  sporidia 
contained  in  the  thecse  or  asci.  Side  by  side  are 
long,  colourless  hair-like  filaments,  called  paraphyses, 
the  origin  and  functions  of  which,  notwithstanding 
all  that  lias  been  said,  or  supposed,  are  obscure. 
The  sporidia  are  dark-brown,  nearly  opaque,  of  an 
elliptical  shape,  with  slightly-pointed  ends,  some- 
times curved,  so  as  to  be  almost  sausage-shaped, 
and  when  not  quite  mature  each  contains  one  or 
two  nucleoli.  These  are  the  fruit,  somewhat  analo- 
gous to  the  seeds  of  higher  plants,  and  by  means  of 
them  the  species  is  reproduced.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  cause  the  sporidia  of  many  fungi  to  germinate 
freely  in  water,  and  not  an  unprofitable  occupatiou 
for  a  leisure  hour.  When  the  sporidia  are  fully 
matured,  the  asci  or  sacs  which  contained  them  are 
ruptured,  and  the  sporidia  escape  aud  make  their 
way  out  of  the  perithecia  by  means  of  the  orifices 
in  the  pap-like  projections  already  alluded  to.  Such, 
then,  is  the  structure  of  the  candle-snuff  fungus,  or, 
at  least,  it  is  a  brief  account  of  some  of  the  most 
important  features,  because  the  minute  examination 
would  furnish  something  to  be  said  about  the  corky 
stroma,  and  the  cortical  layer,  and  the  velvety  hairs  ; 
but  all  these  may  be  left  for  the  reader  to  examine 
for  himself,  having  aquired  a  knowledge  of  general 
structure.  It  only  remains  to  be  stated  that  the 
name  by  which  this  fungus  is  known  to  botanists, 
is  Xylarla  hypoxylon,  and  that  it  belongs  to  the 
Sphce.riacei.  All  the  mysteries  of  classification  we 
will  leave  the  student  to  obtain  from  some  work 
devoted  to  the  subject. 

This  is  a  very  common  object.     He  that  hath 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIP. 


79 


eyes  to  sec,  and  useth  them,  will  find  it  during 
almost  any  half-hour's  stroll  on  some  old  stump  by 
the  wayside— unless  the  said  stroller  should  be 
addicted  to  taking  his  stroll  amongst  the  busy 
haunts  of  men.  With  a  hedge  on  both  sides  of  him, 
and  green  trees  for  shade,  he  need  not  travel  far 
in  search  of  the  "  Candle-snuff  Fungus." 


LOCUST  GOSSIP. 

IN  putting  together  a  few  notes  on  these  in- 
teresting insects  for  Science-Gossip,  I  do  not 
feel  that  any  introduction  is  needed.  The  grass- 
hopper form  is  so  well  known,  and  their  habits  so 
closely  resemble  these  insects,  that  I  purpose 
rather  to  describe  my  actual  experience  of  them  as 
met  with  in  India,  than  to  enter  into  any  scientific 
account  of  them.  I  had  been  more  than  twenty 
years  in  the  country  before  I  saw  a  locust,  and 
strangely  enough  the  first  flight  visited  my  station, 
where  Dr.  Jerdon,  who  had  been,  very  many  more 
years  than  I  had  been,  a  resident,  was  staying  with 
me,  and  he,  too,  had  never  witnessed  a  visit  of  these 
insects.  It  was  September  13th,  18G3,  when,  just 
after  luncheon,  it  suddenly  became  quite  dusk,  and 
the  servants  coming  in  told  us  that  the  locusts  had 
arrived,  and  so  we  went  out  to  see  them. 

The  whole  sky,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  in 
every  direction,  was  full  of  them.  They  flew  from 
the  north-east  at  a  great  pace,  with  a  strange  rust- 
ling filling!  the  air  with  sound,  which  seemed  to 
come  from  every  point,  and  were  much  scattered  in 
their  flight,  which  ranged  from  thirty  to  two  hun- 
dred feet  from  the  ground.  The  wind  at  the  time 
was  blowing  from  the  north-east,  and  they  were 
borne  along  upon  it.  We  were  upon  the  flat 
terrace  roof  of  the  house,  desirous  to  capture  a 
few  for  specimens,  and  the  way  in  which  they 
avoided  the  swoop  of  the  insect-net  was  astonishing. 
Many  settled  on  the  tall  trees  of  the  place,  and 
then,  after  resting  a  little,  flew  off  again.  Pre- 
sently, from  our  high  post  of  observation,  we 
noticed  them  returning,  having  been  turned  by  a 
storm  of  wind  and  rain  which  was  coming  up  from 
the  south-west,  and  which  advanced  to  within  about 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  place  where  we  were 
standing.  They  faced  round,  and  every  one  they 
met  turned  with  them,  and  hurried  towards  the 
north-east,  as  did  those  which  had  alighted  in  the 
trees.  A  few  settled  on  the  ground,  and  these  were 
very  active.  They  were  of  a  red  colour,  and  ap- 
peared to  differ  slightly  from  the  well-known 
"  migratorius,"  a  specimen  of  which  I  had  by  me, 
taken  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  800  miles  from  the 
nearest  land.  In  size  they  were  three  inches  long, 
whilst  the  expanse  of  the  wings  measured  nearly 
five  inches.  About  ten  minutes  or  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  after  this  there  came  up  a  heavy  storm  of 


wind  and  rain  from  the  north-east,  with  a  little 
thunder  and  lightning ;  this  again  turned  them,  and 
they  were  floating  rapidly  past,  when  a  terrific 
down-pour  of  raiu  obscured  all  from  our  view,  and 
caused  them  to  settle  on  every  tree  in  which  they 
could  find  shelter. 

One  "emli,"  or  tamarind-tree,  standing  in  the 
middle  of  a  large  field,  was  so  covered  with  them, 
that,  at  a  little  distance,  instead  of  the  brilliant 
green  for  which  this  tree  is  noted,  it  appeared  of  a 
dull  red.  Next  morning  there  was  not  a  leaf  left, 
only  bare  twigs  ;  whilst  under  the  tree  there  must 
have  been  nearly  half  an  inch  of  excreta.  The 
morning  was  wet,  and  there  were  only  a  few  which 
had  been  left,  flyiug  off  the  trees  when  disturbed  by 
the  crows,  kites,  mynas,  squirrels,  &c,  all  of  whom 
were  feeding  heartily  upon  them.  I  now  organized 
several  parties  to  catch  them,  and  soon  filled  six 
large  earthen  jars.  About  10  a.m.  many  thousands 
were  flying  about,  and  I  expected  great  damage. 
The  sun,  however,  came  out  and  with  dried  wings 
they  all  departed.  They  first  rose  into  the  air  like 
a  pigeon,  gyrated  a  little,  and  then  went  straight 
off  to  the  north-west. 

The  whole  of  this  flight,  from  a  careful  exami- 
nation we  made,  appeared  to  have  been  young 
males. 

The  crows  caught  the  flying  insects  most  cleverly 
in  their  claws,  and  ate  them  as  they  flew  along. 
Often  I  noticed  that  they  dropped  them,  having 
pecked  off  the  abdomen.  This  did  not  prevent  the 
locusts  still  flying,  although  they  soon  came  to 
grief,  and  fell  to  the  ground,  when  the  mynas  and 
other  birds  rapidly  pecked  them  to  pieces.  At  one 
time  I  thought  the  crows  released  them  in  conse- 
quence of  a  sharp  kick  given  by  the  spined  legs  of 
the  insect. 

In  the  evening  I  had  asked  two  gentlemen  to 
dinner  to  meet  the  doctor,  and  I  gave  them  a  curry 
and  croquet  of  locusts.  They  passed  as  Cabul 
shrimps  which  in  flavour  they  much  resembled,  but 
the  cook  having  inadvertently  left  a  hind  leg  in  a 
croquet,  they  were  found  out,  to  the  infinite  disgust 
of  one  of  the  party,  and  amusement  of  the  others. 
Here  is  a  recipe  for  cooking  them,  taken  from  the 
Akhbar,  a  native  Algerine  journal,  under  date 
August,  1S66.  Criquets  a  la  Beuoiton. — "  Take  the 
locust  gently  between  the  finger  and  thumb  of  the 
left  hand ;  cut  it  in  two  with  a  knife,  and  pour  into 
the  animal  inside  a  small  quantity  of  good  rum ; 
let  it  stand  two  days,  and  then  cover  it  with  a 
fritter-paste  and  fry  them.  Then  sprinkle  with 
sugar,  and  pour  into  the  dish  a  small  quantity  of 
Burgundy."  I  never  tried  it.  The  bodies  were  as 
tough  as  leather  in  the  curry,  and  quite  uneatable  ; 
but  the  croquet,  in  which  they  were  well  broken  up 
after  having  been  deprived  of  their  legs,  heads, 
wings,  and  wing-cases,  were  very  fair  ;  and  if 
thoroughly  sun-dried  with  a  little  salt,  1  can  fancy, 


so 


HAUDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


when  ground  and  mixed  ■with  other  food,  they 
would  be  very  tasty.  Our  Mahomedan  servants 
ate  them,  and  they  told  us  how  that  in  many  parts 
they  were  extensively  used,  being  dried  and  kept  in 
sacks.  All  animals,  such  as  cattle  and  camels,  arc 
said  to  like  them ;  and  amongst  birds,  the  only  ones 
that  did  not  touch  them,  were  the  doves  and  para- 
keets— both  vegetable-feeders. 

On  the  16th  September  there  were  three  more 
large  nights,  extending  for  miles ;  but  as  very  few 
settled,  little  harm  was  done  to  the  crops.  The 
appearance  of  a  flight  in  the  horizon  is  curious.  It 
is  like  a  thin  dark  streak,  which  increases  in 
density  every  moment  till  it  has  arrived.  It  is 
often  several  hundred  feet  in  depth,  a  mile  or  two 
miles,  and  some  three  or  four  miles,  long.  Any 
computation  of  the  number  of  insects  of  which 
uch  a  swarm  consists,  would  be  quite  impossible. 
What  strikes  every  one  as  they  approach,  is  the 
strange  rustling  of  millions  on  millions  of  crisp 
wings.  Often  after  this  there  were  flights,  but  it 
was  impossible  to  trace  their  direction,  nor  is  it 
certainly  known  where  they  generally  breed.  Many 
swarms  settled  in  the  Punjab,  where  they  laid  their 
eggs  in  the  ground,  and  thousands  of  men,  women, 
and  children  collected  these,  and  they  were  de- 
stroyed. Still  many  remained,  and  the  young  wing- 
less larvre  crawled  over  the  ground,  creating  far 
greater  havoc  then  their  winged  parents.  Some 
say  that  they  come  across  the  Himalayas.  That 
they  do  not  always  succeed,  is  quite  clear  from  the 
following. 

In  June,  1864,  there  was  published  an  account  by 
Mr.  Shaw  of  the  flight  of  locusts  he  had  fouud 
destroyed  on  a  glacier,  near  the  head  of  the  Ravee 
river  in  1863.  This  extraordinary  sight  is  thus 
described  by  him  : — "  The  whole  surface  of  the 
glacier,  over  an  extent  certainly  equal  to  a  square 
mile,  was  covered  with  dead  locusts.  A  thin 
coating  of  snow,  which  had  fallen  a  day  or  two 
before,  and  had,  probably,  caused  their  death,  had 
melted  in  most  places,  and  showed  the  locusts 
spread  an  inch  or  two  thick,  and  apparently  pre- 
served by  the  cold.  In  the  crevasses,  which  were 
very  frequent  and  regular  along  the  side  of  the 
glacier,  the  locusts  were  heaped  in  such  numbers 
as  to  fill  up  the  narrow  fissures  ten  or  twelve  feet 
deep.  The  brown  bears  had  come  up  by  dozens  to 
feast  on  this  new  delicacy,  and  our  coolies,  who  had 
gone  ahead  of  us,  reported  that  they  had  passed 
several  bears,  one  of  which  was  feeding  so  eagerly 
as  scarcely  to  notice  their  neighbourhood.  This 
swarm  of  locusts  consisted  of  the  red  kind  that 
visits  the  Kangra  valley  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  rains."  I  kept  an  account  for  some  years  of 
all  the  flights,  recorded  by  the  different  Indian 
papers,  with  their  directions,  but  I  am  sorry  to  say 
I  could  not  deduce  any  theory  to  account  for  their 
sudden  appearance,  [nor  have  trans-Himalayan  tra- 


'  vellers    confirmed    the    theory    of    their    coming 
thence. 

When  they  do  come,  every  one  turns  out  with 
pots,  kettles,  and  pans,  and  makes  as  much  noise 
as  he  can.    This  certaiuly  prevents  them  settling 
and  I  thus  twice  saved  my  garden,  and  trust  never 
to  see  them  again. 

C.  Horne,  E.Z.S,  late  B.C.S. 


THE  HOME  OE  THE  SWALLOW-TAIL 
{Papilio  Machaon). 

FT  is  not  every  reader  of  Science-Gossip  whose 
■*-  lot  is  cast  in  a  land  tenanted  by  that  beautiful, 
and  one  of  the  largest  of  the  British  butterflies,  the 
Swallow-tail  {Papilio  Machaon) ;  and  a  few  words 
relative  to  the  haunts  and  habits  of  that  conspicuous 
species,  may,  perhaps,  not  prove  uninteresting  to 
some  of  its  numerous  entomological  readers. 

There  are  few  counties  in  Britain  that  can  now 
boast  of  this  beautiful  butterfly  as  numbering  among 
their  entomological  productions,  but  where  it  is 
indigenous  it  occurs  often  iu  considerable  abundance. 
Many  localities  are  recorded  in  entomological  works, 
but  with  most  of  them  it  is  now  "  a  thing  of  the  past ;" 
but  there  are  still  a  few  where  it  may  be  sought 
after  with  a  pretty  fair  prospect  of  success  ;  amongst 
which  may  be  enumerated  Wicken  Een,  in  Cam- 
bridgeshire, Yaxley,  and  Whittlesea  Mere;  to  which 
I  may  also  add,  last  but  by  no  means  least,  Horn- 
ing and  Banworth  Marshes,  in  Norfolk.  In  these 
two  places  it  is  of  annual  abundance,  and  they  are 
the  sole  localities  from  whence  I  glean  these  few 
notes.  These  places  are  well  known  and  explored  by 
every  Norfolk  entomologist,  being  rich  iu  entomolo- 
gical productions,  not  only  Lepidoptera,  but  innumer- 
able Coleoptera,  and  many  of  the  Neuroptera.  Rus- 
tics entirely  ignorant  of  entomology,  residing  here, 
well  know  the  Swallow-tail,  for  the  name  of  this  in- 
sect has  of  late  years  become  with  them  "  familiar  as 
household  words":  both  the  larvfc  and  perfect  in- 
sect are  yearly  sought  after  by  many  of  them,  and 
brought  home  in  considerable  abundance,  fed  up 
and  disposed  of  at  a  trifling  cost  to  entomologists 
on  their  visits. 

Many  a  bright  summer  morning,  ere  the  dew  is 
off  the  grass,  have  we  set  out,  leaving  far  behind 
the  busy  hum  and  bustle  of  the  city,  laden  with  the 
required  paraphernalia,  with  intent  to  breathe  the 
fresh  and  bracing  atmosphere  of  the  country  in  pay- 
ing a  visit  to  the  home  of  the  Swallow-tail,  feasting 
both  eyes  and  ears  on  the  sights  and  sounds  of  the 
insect  world,  as  we  wend  our  way,  net  in  hand, 
through  grassy  meads  and  country  lanes.  By-and- 
by  we  arrive  at  the  marshes,  not  at  all  pleasant 
places  to  walk  about,  but  forming  a  decided  con- 
trast with  the  dusty  road  we  have  just  left  behind. 
We  are  now  fairly  on  our  hunting-ground,  and  as 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


81 


we  look  around  us  we  see  insect  life  in  abundance  ; 
the  Dragon-fly  darting  hither  and  thither  amongst 
the  rustling  reeds  that  margin  the  ditch,  or  stopping 
to  alight  on  the  stately  Flowering  Rush  {Butomns 
umbellatus),  a  graceful  aquatic,  which  we  notice 
waving  here  and  there — 

"  'Mid  the  flags  that  fringe  the  streamlet's  bed, 
The  stately  Butumus  rears  her  head, 
Like  a  Naiad  crowned  with  a  flowery  wreath, 
She  rose  from  the  waters  that  flowed  beneath. 

"  It  was  lovely  to  look  on  that  splendid  flower, 
So  richly  endowed  with  beauty's  dower, 
And  when  we  turned  from  the  river's  shore, 
To  our  homes  the  graceful  stranger  we  bore. 

"  But  the  glow  of  her  roseate  charms  had  fled, 
When  a  few  fleeting  hours  had  passed  o'er  her  head, 
For  no  more  'mid  the  grass  in  the  verdant  mead, 
Did  the  tranquil  waters  her  loveliness  feed. 

"  And  fancy  might  dream  that  the  pale  leaves  sighed, 
As  though  they  mourned  for  the  flowing  tide ; 
She  could  not  live  from  her  home  afar, 
And  she  faded  before  the  evening  star.'' 

As  expressed  in  the  above  lines,  the  Flowering 
Hush,  like  most  water-plants, "when  gathered,  soon 
droops  and  withers  ;  but  when  growing,  it  forms  a 
beautiful  contrast  with  its  neighbours,  the  yellow 
Flags  and  white  Water-lilies. 

As  we  wend  our  way  still  further  amongst  the 
long  grass,  we  now  and  then  disturb  an  unwary  in- 
dividual of  Plusia  gamma,  who  does  not  quite  ap- 
preciate our  company,  and  darts  off  in  an  instant, 
and  after  flying  a  few  yards,  finds  himself  once  more 
amongst  the  grass  ;  we  say,  Reqiiiescat  in  pace,  for  we 
do  not  care  to  capture  him. 

Still  further  on,  we  come  to  an  olla  podrida  of 
wild  (lowers  of  various  species,  which,  as  we  approach, 
remind  us  of  a  many-coloured  carpet,  consisting  of 
thistles,  meadow-sweet,  and  an  abundance  of  other 
flowers  intermixed  with  the  long  grass.  As  we 
wade  through  them  up  to  our  waists,  we  find  them 
tenanted  by  many  of  the  common  species  of  butter- 
flies, and  here  and  there  a  Swallow-tail  may  be  seen 
quietly  sipping  the  sweets  therefrom.  The  least  dis- 
turbance, and  off  he  flies.  Now  begins  a  chase  !  We 
are  off  after  him,  now  and  then  over  a  ditch,  follow- 
ing him  up  as  cautiously  as  possible ;  now  he  has 
settled  once  more ;  one  good  strike  with  the  ring- 
net,  and  he  is  a  prisoner  and  fluttering  in  vain  for 
liberty.  After  being  safely  deposited  in  the  collect- 
ing-box, we  retrace  our  steps,  wiping  the  perspi- 
ration from  our  foreheads,  in  search  of  more  trea- 
sures. 

When  undisturbed,  the  flight  of  Papilio  Machaon 
is  not  by  any  means  a  swift  one ;  but  the  instant  he 
becomes  aware  of  an  intruder  he  darts  wildly  about, 
and  deigns  not  to  alight  until  he  has  satisfied  bim- 
self  that  all  is  safe  once  again.  A  field  of  clover  or 
lucerne,  when  in  full  bloom,  seems  to  have  a  great 
attraction  for  him.  and  he  is  easily  captured  when 
sippiug  the  sweets  from  the  flowers ;  it  is  pleasant 
to  watch  him  when  thus  engaged. 


The  larvae  of  Machaon  may  be  found  feeding  on 
the  leaves  of  the  Wild  Carrot  (Daucuscarota),  which 
grows  here  in  considerable  plenty :  I  have  myself 
taken  numbers  of  them,  and  find  they  thrive  well 
on  the  leaves  of  the  common  carrot.  It  is  very  in- 
teresting to  watch  them  feeding;  they  keep  to  their 
food,  as  is  not  the  case  with  the  larvse  of  many  other 
species. 

I  have  not  yet  been  able  to  ascertain  whether  this 
species  can  be  induced  to  breed  in  confinement :  I 
have  several  of  the  pupa?  now,  and  think  of  trying 
the  experiment,  should  they  emerge ;  and  should  I 
be  successful,  I  shall  have  great  pleasure  in  com- 
municating the  result  to  Science-Gossip. 

Norwich.  R.  Laddiman. 


CUPHEA  PLATYCENTRA. 

THE  summer  of  1865  was,  in  this  part  of  Eng- 
land, a  dry,  warm  season,  and  the  fine  weather 
was  continued  until  very  late  in  the  autumn.  Of 
course  we  had  nothing  like  the  drought  of  1868,  or 


Fig.  48.  Cup/tea  platycuntra. 

of  last  year ;  but  it  must  have  been  a  somewhat 
remarkable  summer  as  far  as  vegetation  was  con- 
cerned ;  for  I  find  it  recorded  in  my  notes  that  on 


82 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


October  12th,  an  immense  ivy-tree,  which  com- 
pletely smothers  one  of  my  buildings,  and  of  which 
we  are  not  a  little  proud,  was  in  full  flower,  and 
was  thronged  with  various  flies,  bees,  and  wasps  ; 
and  this  tree  does  not  usually  flower  till  November. 
Also,  that  on  the  same  date  Magnolia  purpurea  and 
Weigelia  rosea  were  in  flower  a  second  time ;  and 
that  a  tulip-tree  in  the  neighbourhood  produced 
fruit.  This  is  no  uncommon  thing  near  London, 
but  is  unusual  so  far  north. 

That  same  autumn  Cuphea  platycentra  ripened 
seed  out  of  doors.  Every  plant  in  my  garden  pro- 
duced a  considerable  number  of  apparently  ripe 
seed-vessels ;  and  I  was  much  struck  with  their 
peculiar  mode  of  dehiscence,  and  I  made  the  ac- 
companying drawing  at  the  time. 

In  ripening,  the  coloured  calyx  became  persist- 
ent, but  gradually  dried  up  as  the  seed  approached 
maturity.  All  this  while  the  capsule  within  the 
calyx  was  swelling,  untill  the  seeds  were  ready  to 
be  shed.  Then  the  free  central  placenta,  with  its 
seeds  attached,  began  to  move,  and  to  exhibit  the 
following  curious  phenomenon.  It  rose  up  from  a 
horizontal  position,  became  perpendicular,  and 
finally  bent  backwards  towards  the  stalk,  in  the 
manner  shown  in  the  drawing,  and  in  so  doing  it 
pushed  its  way  through  a  dorsal  suture  in  the  cap- 
sule ;  and  through  a  corresponding  slit  in  the 
calyx,  the  point  of  the  capsule  remaining  closed, 
and  the  upper  part  of  the  calyx  intact. 

InMasters's  "Vegetable  Teratology"  (p.  210), 
there  are  very  excellent  drawings  of  a  similar  ap- 
pearance that  was  observed  by  Morren  in  Cuphea 
miniata,  and  described  by  him  as  a  monstrous  con- 
dition of  the  flower,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
"  Gymnaxony." 

Erom  the  fact,  however,  of  my  having  observed 
so  many  similar  instances  in  another  species,  I 
should  be  more  inclined  to  think  that  this  is  not  a 
monstrous  condition  of  the  flower,  but  is  the  nor- 
mal method  of  dehiscence  in  the  genus  Cuphea. 
Eurther  observations  will  be  acceptable. 

Mobberley,  Cheshire.  Robert  Holland. 


CLEVER   TOMTIT. 

"TTTE  all  know  how  hard  the  poor  birds  have 
T  '  been  put  to  it  this  cold  winter,  for  some- 
thing to  eat.  What  I  am  going  to  say,  however, 
shows  that  some  of  them,  at  all  events,  have  been 
fully  equal  to  the  emergency. 

Being  in  the  country,  in  Gloucestershire,  at  the 
time  when  the  snow  lay  four  inches  deep  on  the 
ground,  I  heard  of  the  strange  devices  of  some 
tomtits,  for  keeping  themselves  from  starving. 
Determined  to  verify  what  1  had  heard,  I  went  to 
see,  and  here  is  what  I  saw. 


The  ground  was,  as  1  have  said,  covered  with 
snow;  it  was  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and 
the  sun  was  shining.  I  took  up  my  position  in  the 
garden,  near  some  beehives,  choosing  a  place  where 
I  should  be  as  little  observed  as  possible.  After  I 
bad  waited  a  short  time,  down  came  a  tomtit, 
alighted  on  the  hive,  and  began  tapping  it  with  his 
bill.  He  stood  just  over  the  hole  in  the  bottom 
rim  of  the  hive,  where  the  bees  go  out  and  in.  Soon 
the  object  of  his  tapping  became  apparent ;  a  bee 
crawled  out,  and  was  immediately  snapped  up. 
After  devouring  the  body  of  his  victim, — his  delicate 
palate  rejecting  the  wings,  legs,  and  head, — he  began 
again  tap,  tap,  tap,  as  before.  He  was  not  long- 
suffered  to  enjoy  his  well-earned  breakfast  in  peace; 
for  the  gardener,  an  enemy  of  course,  to  all  birds, 

|  was  ready  with  his  gun  to  murder  him.    Poor  fel- 

J  low,  he  deserved  a  better  fate  ! 

"The  young  rascals  comes  every  mornin'  regular, 

,  especially  if  the  sun's  shinin',  because  the  bees  comes 

|  out  easier  then  ;  but  I  always  takes  good  care  they 
shan't  come  a  second  time,"  said  the  gardener.  He 
had  shot  four  already  that  morning. 

This  little  story  proves  the  insanity  of  the  whole- 
sale murder  of  little  birds,  as  though  they  did  no- 
thing but  harm.  It  proves  it  in  this,  that  it  shows 
the  insatiable  appetite  of  tomtits  for  insects ;  and, 
believe  me,  they  are  not  alone  in  this  respect.  Now, 
although  the  bees  were  kept  for  amusement,  still 
thousands  of  grubs,  wasps,  earwigs,  and  beetles 
are  not ;  and  these  are  what  tomtit  likes  when  he 
can  get  them,  and  the  time  when  he  cannot  is  but 
very  short. 

I  may  here  add  a  few  words  of  advice  to  bee- 
keepers ;  that  the  hives  should  be  well  guarded 
from  any  chance  rays  of  sunshine  in  severe  winter 
weather.  The  day  on  which  I  watched  the  tom- 
tit was  a  very  bright  one,  and  as  the  beehives  were 
rather  exposed  to  the  sun,  a  great  many  bees  came 
out  about  12  o'clock.  Though  bright,  it  was 
severely  cold,  and  the  bees  becoming  numb  as  soon 
as  they  had  left  their  hives,  fell  on  the  snow  and 
died.  I  counted  as  many  as  a  hundred  lying  about. 
I  picked  up  one  which  was  apparently  dead,  and 
taking  it  indoors,  placed  it  on  the  mantelpiece. 
The  heat  soon  restored  it,  and  it  flew  to  the  window, 
and  buzzed  away  quite  heartily. 

Worcester.  Wm.  J.  Smith. 


The  PiXEAPrLE. — Lord  Bacon  mentions  this 
fruit  in  his  Essay  on  Plantations  or  Colonies,  but 
does  not  notice  that  it  had  ever  been  brought  to 
Europe  in  his  time ;  nor  do  we  meet  with  any 
mention  of  its  having  been  seen  in  this  country 
i  prior  to  1G57,  when  Cromwell  the  Protector 
received  a  present  of  pineapples.— Phillips,  "  Fruits 
of  Great  Britain." 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


83 


STELLATE  HAIRS   OF  PLANTS. 

\  LTHOUGII  from  time  to  time  vegetable  hairs 
-^*-  have  formed  the  subject  of  short  papers  in  the 
images  of  Science-Gossip,  there  are  still  many  ex- 
quisite examples  to  be  found  on  the  most  lowly  of 
the  plant  creation  which  are  passed  by  unheeded 
by  many. 

The  most  wonderful  and  attractive  forms  are  the 
"  stellates,"  some  of  which  have  already  been  no- 
ticed. A  splendid  example,  however,  is  found  on  a 
low-growing  herbaceous  plant,  bearing  yellow 
ilowers,  named  Onosma-  tauricum  ;  the  whole  plant, 
which  grows  in  rough  stony  places   in  its  native 


\ 

Fig.  49.  Hair  of  Onosma  tauricum,  x  go. 

habitat,  being  covered  with  the  very  remarkable 
hairs  shown  by  fig:  49,  which  give  it  a  very  rough 
feel  to  the  touch.  They  are  large  enough  to  be 
visible  to  the  unassisted  eye ;  the  longer  ones  on 
the  under  side  of  the  leaf,  measuring  on  the  aver- 
age as  much  as  TV  of  an  inch  between  the  extreme 
tips.  Under  the  microscope  they  appear  to  be 
composed  of  the  clearest  crystal,  and  nothing  can 
exceed  the  beauty  of  these  gems,  whether  regarded 
singly  or  arranged  in  their  unvarying  plan  on  either 
side  of  the  leaf ;  the  somewhat  opaque  whitish  ex- 
crescences at  the  base  of  each  branch  of  the  star 
are  prominent,  and  form  one  of  the  most  striking 
features  of  this  hair.  The  central  spine  is  much 
longer  than  those  forming  the  rays,  and  in  the  living 
plant  stands  almost  erect.  Its  surface  is  tubercu- 
lated,  resembling  the  spicules  of  Gorgonia.  The 
whole  hair  is  so  firmly  attached  to  the  cuticle  that 
it  cannot  be  separated  without  removing  a  portion 
of  that  with  it. 


Pig.  50  is  a  beautiful  oblongo-stellate  hair,  taken 
from  the  leaf  of  Alyssum  alpestre,  a  native  of  the 
Pyrenees  and  mountains  of  Switzerland.  The  whole 
plant  is  covered  with  these  splendid  hairs,  giving 
it  a  silvery  appearance. 


Fig:.  50.  Hair  of  Alyssum 
alpestre,  x  90. 


Fig.  51.  Hair  of  Alyssum 
spinosum,  x  90. 


A  single  leaf  is  a  most  beautiful  and  interesting 
object  under  the  microscope,  with  1-inch  objective, 
and  brilliantly  illuminated ;  the  hairs  themselves  are 
covered  with  nodular  protuberances  similar  to  those 
of  Onosma  and  equally  crystalline  in  appearance. 

Pig.  52  is  taken  from  Alyssum  montanum.  These 
hairs  are  somewhat  similar  in  appearance  to  the 
preceding,  but  more  complex,  having  eight  arms, 
each  furcated,  and  of  varying  lengths.  They  are 
somewhat  smoother  than  those  of  A.  alpestre. 


Fig.  52.  Hair  of  Alyssum  montanum,  x  90. 

Alyssum  spinosum  has  hairs  smaller  and  more 
nearly  approaching  the  stellate  type,  fig.  51.  They 
cover  the  plant  very  thickly,  giving  it  a  glistening 
or  frosted  appearance. 

The  real  use  of  these  beautiful  leaf-appendages 
seems  to  be  somewhat  obscure  ;  but  may  they  not 
be  of  value  in  determining  the  species  of  plant,  to 
which  they  belong? 

Fulham.  John  Carpenter. 

Acorns.— John  Ellis  has  discovered  that  acorns 
can  be  preserved  in  a  state  fit  for  vegetation  for  a 
whole  year,  by  enveloping  them  in  beeswax 
other  seeds  may  be  conveyed  from  distant  countries 
by  the  same  means. — Phillips,  "Fruits  of  Great 
Britain." 


Si 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GO  S  SIP. 


THE  SEA  AND  ITS  WONDERS.  * 

THE  English  publishers  of  Michelet's  enchanting 
and  beautifully-illustrated  "  Bird  "  have  pro- 
duced a  marvellously  cheap  and  elegant  volume 
for  the  young,  which  we  recommend  with  confidence 
as  a  gift-book  for  little  folks.  Having  tried  the 
experiment,  we  have  found  it  to  answer  our  most  !    with  the  animal  in  it. 


"This  is  a  shell  which  no  doubt  you  have  seen 
many  times,  for  it  may  be  met  with  in  every  col- 
lection of  shells. 

"  It  is  called  the  pearly  nautilus. 

"The  creature  that  lives  in  the  shell  is  so  timid, 
and  keeps  in  such  deep  water,  that  it  is  very  rarely 
caught  sight  of.   Only  once  has  the  shell  been  takeu 


Fig.  53.  Shells  of— 1.  Triton,  imbricata.    2.  Nautilus pompilius.    3.  Helix  ovata.     4.  Argonauta  papyracea. 


sanguine  anticipations,  and  we  advise  all  our  readers 
who  have  youug  folks  to  please  to  go  and  do  like- 
wise. The  illustrations  are  profuse  and  excellent ; 
the  paper,  printing,  and  binding  all  that  could  be 
desired.  Our  only  regret  is  that  we  do  not  know 
of  more  such  books,  and  at  such  a  moderate  price, 
suitable  for  like  purposes.  As  an  example  of  the 
style,  we  extract  one  of  the  chapters,  called— 

The  Peakly  Nautilus. 

"  There  is  a  relation  of  the  argonaut  that  makes  a 
shell  with  chambers  in  it. 


*  "The  Sea  and  its  Wonders.     By  Mary  and    Elizabeth 
Kirby.    London  :  T.  Nelson  and  Sons.-' 


"  It  was  floating  on  the  sea,  and  looked  like  a  dead 
toi'toise-shell  cat. 

"  The  captain  of  the  ship  sent  oif  a  boat  for  the 
purpose  of  finding  out  what  the  object  really  was. 

"  But  the  creature  began  to  sink  so  fast,  that  it 
was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  it  could  be  caught. 

"  Indeed  the  shell  was  broken  by  the  boat-hook 
striking  it  so  quickly. 

'•'  For  no  time  had  to  be  lost.  In  a  minute  more, 
it  would  have  escaped. 

"  The  mollusc  that  lived  in  the  shell  was  thus, 
for  once,  found  at  home. 

"  It  was  firmly  fixed  to  each  side  of  the  shell,  and 
had  a  mantle  of  a  purple  colour, with  a  reddish  tint, 
and  with  spots  of  a  deeper  colour  still. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  I  E  N  CE-  GOS  S  I  P. 


85 


"  This  is  the  only  instance  of  the  creature  being 
carried  away  in  its  shell,  and  exhibited  as  a  curiosity. 

"The  shell  of  the  pearly  nautilus  is  as  curious  as 
it  is  beautiful. 

"  It  has  a  number  of  chambers  in  it,  one  after  the 
other. 

"The  last  formed  is  the  largest;  and  here  the 
creature  lives,  the  empty  rooms  being  behind  it. 

"  At  first  there  was  but  one  room ;  the  creature 
lived  in  it.  But  that  wonderful  membrane  of  its 
went  on  secreting  shelly  matter,  until  it  had  formed 
another. 

"When  all  the  chambers  were  finished,  and  as  it 
were  shut  up,  the  nautilus  had  attained  to  its  full 


CHIPS   FROM   AN  AMERICAN 
WORKSHOP. 

By  Professor  Arthur  Mead  Edwards. 

FN  every  fraternity,  I  presume,  there,  after  a 
•*■  while,  come  into  use  certain  words  or  phrases 
which  are  perfectly  understandable  to  the  initiated, 
and  to  them  mean  a  great  deal,  although  they  may 
appear  very  meaningless  to  outsiders. 

I  have  found  that  microscopists,  as  a  general 
thing,  are  more  addicted  to  the  use  of  this  kind  of 
technical  slang  than,  perhaps,  any  other  class  of 
persons  with  whom  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  asso- 


Fifr  54.    Ammonite. 


size.  Then  it  lived  in  the  last  cell  of  all,  having 
crept  to  it  through  the  rest. 

"A  fleshy  tube  unites  all  these  chambers  to- 
gether, from  one  end  of  the  shell  to  the  other. 
This  tube  ends  in  the  body  of  the  animal,  and 
increases  with  its  growth. 

"  Ages  and  ages  ago,  when  the  lily  stars  were  in 
their  beauty,  a  kind  of  nautilus  that  is  now  extinct 
lived  in  the  sea. 

"  The  remains  of  the  shells  are  found  in  a  fossil 
state,  and  are  called  ammonites." 

The  two  woodcuts  illustrating  this  extract  are 
from  the  work  itself,  kindly  lent  for  this  purpose 
by  the  publishers. 


Cyclostoma  elegans  occurs  abundantly  a  few 
miles  N.W.  of  Ripon,  at  Hockfall,  on  the  magnesian 
limestone.—/.  S.  T. 


ciate.  Among  us,  at  the  American  Microscopical 
Society,  is  to  be  found  a  plentiful  supply  of  this 
article,  but  we  have  one  pet  term  which  possesses, 
for  us  at  least,  a  deal  of  meaning.  Thus,  when 
anyone  makes  known  any  particular  method  or  con- 
trivance, way  or  manner  of  manipulating,  or  piece 
of  apparatus,  it  is  a  "  Dodge."  And,  furthermore, 
to  be  a  true  dodge,  it  must  originate  with  an  ama- 
teur; manufacturers  and  dealers  only  originate 
"pieces  of  apparatus."  But  this  special  term 
dodge  is  more  particularly  and  specially  reserved 
for,  and  used  to  designate,  little  labour-  or  time- 
saving  machines  of  home  manufacture. 

Now.  as  I  desire  to  do  all  that  lies  in  my  power 
to  help  on  my  fellow  microscopists,  it  is  my  inten- 
tion in  this  communication  to  bring  to  their  notice 
some  dodges  which  have  originated  in  our  society, 
with  the  hope  that  they  may  prove  as  acceptable 
to  others  as  they  have  been  useful  to  me.    And  I 


86 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


make  them  known  through  your  journal,  Mr.  Editor, 
because  I  know  it  is  seen  by  all  microscopists  on 
this  side  of  the  ocean,  as  I  feel  must  likewise  be  the 
case  in  England.  Unfortunately,  we  have  no  medium 
published  in  this  country,  as  yet,  through  which 
microscopists  can  communicate  one  with  the  other; 
so  we  have  to  depend  on  you  and  collaborateurs, 
the  Quarterly,  the  Monthly,  and  the  Journal  of  the 
Quekett  Club  ;  all  of  which  we  welcome  with  open 
arms. 

My  first  dodge,  then,  is  a  form  of  drop-bottle  to 
hold  test-solutions,  as  acids,  staining  material,  and 
the  like,  which  are  so  commonly  used  in  small  quan- 
tities applied  directly  to  the  object  whilst  under 
examination  upon  the  stage  of  the  microscope. 
Bottles  with  nicely-ground  and  tapering  stoppers 
can  be  procured,  we  are  informed,  in  London,  but 
not  readily  in  New  York,  or  even  if  they  can,  they 
cost  considerable,  an  item  worthy  of  very  serious 
consideration  by  beginners ;  besides,  they  do  not 
answer  for  all  purposes,  for  only  a  drop  of  a  certain 
and  small  size  can  be  taken  up  at  one  time.  It  is 
true  that  there  are  those  little  bottles  having  caout- 
chouc-covered funnels  fitted  into  their  necks,  but  I 
never  found  them  very  useful ;  and  they,  too,  cost 
money,  less  or  greater,  depending  upon  the  con- 
science of  the  dealer.  With  all  of  these,  if  a  large 
quantity  of  the  fluid  is  required,  it  must  be  fished 
out  in  successive  drops.  Now  my  contrivance,  or 
dodge,  does  away  with  all  of  these  objections;  with 
it  a  small  drop  or  a  large  quantity,  as  desired  at  the 
time,  can  be  taken  up ;  and  above  all,  the  greatest 
recommendation  is  that  the  apparatus  can  be  got 
up  by  any  one  in  a  few  minutes,  and  costs  very  little. 

The  first  form  it  assumed  was  a  small  narrow- 
necked  phial,  having  a  perforated  cork,  through 
which  a  glass  tube  was  passed,  and  this  glass 
tube  was  drawn  out  to  a  fine  orifice  at  its 
lowest  extremity.  By  means  of  such  a  dip-tube, 
of  course,  any  amount  of  the  contained  liquid 
can  be  extracted,  shifting  the  tube  up  or  down 
through  the  cork  as  occasion  required.  But  alter 
several  such  bottles  had  been  in  use  for  some  time, 
there  was  found  to  be  one  very  great  objection  to 
it  in  this  form.  That  is  to  say,  many  of  the  liquids, 
the  alkaline  solution  for  instance,  acted  upon  the 
cork,  and  in  time  it  also  shrunk,  and  dried  so  that 
the  liquid  evaporated.  Of  course,  a  little  will  also 
evaporate  through  the  tube  itself,  but  this  amounts 
to  very  little,  except  in  the  case  of  alcohol,  ether, 
or  the  like.  So  that  I  have  modified  my  dropping- 
bottles,  and  use  a  short  piece  of  caoutchouc  tubing 
about  half  an  inch  long,  placed  around  the  glass 
tube,  and  in  lieu  of  the  cork.  This  fits  perfectly 
tight,  is  unacted  upon  by  most  reagents,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  is  somewhat  elastic,  so  that  the  tube  is 
not  easily  broken  by  an  accidental  blow,  if  it,  happen 
to  be  struck  sharply  when  reaching  across  the  table. 
Then,  again,  the  upper  end  of  the  tube  may  be 


stopped  with  a  cork  to  prevent  evaporation,  or, 
what  is  still  better,  the  caoutchouc  tube  attachment 
may  be  applied  at  top,  as  described  in  Science- 
Gossip,  vol.  iv.  p.  2G0.  But  1  think  our  curator, 
Mr.  Jackson,  who  is  well  known  amongst  us  as  a 
great  contriver  of  dodges,  has  suggested  an  improve- 
ment on  this  rubber  tube  at  the  top  of  the  pipette. 

In  our  apothecaries'  shops,  and  I  suppose  in 
yours  also,  are  to  be  found  so-called  "nursing- 
bottles,"  which  have  attached  to  the  end  of  their 
exit-tubes  caps  or  "  nipples  "  made  of  caoutchouc. 
One  of  these  may  be  slipped  over  the  end  of  the 
pipette,  and  tiie  little  hole  in  its  rounded  extremity 
stopped  with  a  drop  of  sealing-wax.  When  this  is 
compressed,  the  air  is  driven  out  of  the  tube ;  and 
when  the  pressure  is  removed,  the  fluid  enters  and 
is  retained  as  long  as  we  like,  to  be  driven  out  by 
pressing  the  rubber  bulb  again. 

My  next  dodge  is  a  movable  table  or  stand  to 
hold  both  the  microscope  and  lamp,  so  that  they 
can,  together,  be  passed  about  from  one  person  to 
another  sitting  at  the  same  table.  This  also  can  be 
made  at  home,  and  costs  very  little.  It  consists  of 
a  stout  piece  of  board  made  of  such  wood  as  is 
heavy,  and  which  does  not  readily  crack  or  change 
shape  by  shrinking  or  warping.  Black  walnut  I 
find  to  answer  xevy  well,  and  to  be  sightly  at  the 
same  time.  But  it  should  be  oiled  so  as  to  prevent 
its  absorbing  moisture.  It  is  cut  into  a  triangular 
form,  and  has  the  corners  rounded  off.  The  size  is 
such  that  the  lamp  will  stand  in  one  corner,  whilst 
the  microscope  occupies  the  position  midway 
between  the  two  other  corners,  and' is  at  a  conve- 
nient distance  from  the  lamp.  In  the  under  side  of 
the  board  and  near  the  corners  are  screwed  three 
small  china  drawer-knobs,  and  upon  these  the  stand 
rests  and  moves.  These  smooth  polished  knobs  are 
much  better  and  steadier  than  castors;  and  besides, 
with  them  the  stand  can  be  moved  in  any  direction, 
as  they  freely  slide  over  a  table-cloth  or  varnished- 
cloth  covered  table,  and  do  not  mark  the  surface  any 
more  than  castors.  I  am  aware  that  something  of 
the  same  kind  as  this  has  been  proposed  before, 
but  not  so  simple  in  construction,  and  which  could 
not  be  so  readily  made  at  home,  and  cheaply. 

Dodge  number  three  is  of  another  kind,  and  just 
as  practical  as  numbers  one  and  two.  As  micro- 
scopists are  so  numerous,  many  of  them  must 
possess  instruments  having  such  thick  stages  that 
although  they  may  be  occasionally  tempted  to  try 
their  objectives  with  extremely  oblique  light  on 
some  "rhomboides"  or  "  pellucida,"  yet  they  are 
unable  to  do  so.  And  here  excuse  me  if  I  remark 
that  this  seems  to  be  an  almost  universal  fault  in 
the  English  stands.  With  us,  on  the  contrary,  the 
fact  that  any  stand  may  fall  info  the  hands  of  a 
resolver  of  fine-lined  test-objects  is  so  generally 
understood  by  our  makers,  that  they  make  the 
stands  of  both  their  low-priced  and  large  instru- 


HARDWICKE'S    S  C  I  E  N  C  E-GO  SSI  P. 


87 


ments  so  that  they  can  be  so  used.      Of  course 
there  are  exceptions,  and  it  has  been  to  meet  these 
tiiat  I  have  contrived  the  piece  of  apparatus  I  am 
about  to  describe.    In  fact  it  was  to  assist  just 
such  hungry  inquirers  after  knowledge,   and  lift 
(hem   over  their  difficulty,   that   I  contrived  my 
supplemental  stage.     It  consists  of  a  sheet  of  brass 
a  trifle  thinner  than  an  ordinary  slide.    This  is  cut 
and  bent  in  such  a  manner  that  there  is  a  plate  of 
the  same  size  as  an  ordinary  slide,  only  having  a 
hole  in  the  middle  which  rests  upon  the  stage  of 
the  microscope  and  is    held  in  position  by  the 
spring  clamps  attached  thereto.      The  hole  in  the 
middle  is  not  necessary,  but  sometimes  convenient. 
From  one  of  the  longer  sides,  the  one  next  the 
observer,  rises  an  upright,  which  is  part  of  the 
original  sheet  of  brass  bent,  or  it  can  be  soldered 
on  afterwards.    This  projects  upwards  about  three 
quarters  of  an  inch,  and  is  then  bent  at  right  angles 
so  as  to  run  parallel  with  and  over  the  bed-plate, 
where  it  has  its  middle  portion  cut  away,  so  that  it, 
in  fact,  becomes  two  strips,  each  about  a  quarter  of 
an  inch  wide.    At  an  inch  and  a  quarter  from  their 
upright  portions  these  strips  are  again  bent,  but 
this  time  over  something  round,  like  a  cedar  pencd, 
so  as  to  come  down  again  on  top  of  the  horizontal 
supporting    portions,    and    form    spring  clips,  by 
means  of  which  the  slide  is  held  in  place  when  laid 
upon  the  slips  themselves.     Using  this  contrivance, 
the  slide  is  held  above  the  stage  of  the  microscope, 
having  absolutely  nothing  under  it  to  obstruct  light 
of  the  greatest  obliquity. 

And,  lastly,  a  cheap  form  of  amplifier  by  means 
of  which  the  magnifying  power  of  any  objective 
and  ocular  may  be  doubled  or  even  enlarged  to  a 
greater  extent.  The  idea  of  this  dodge  we  owe  to 
Mr.  E.  C.  Bogert,  the  worthy  Treasurer  of  our 
Society,  another  dodge-contriver.  This  is  simply  a 
double-concave  lens,  such  as  is  used  to  form  the 
eye-lens  of  common  opera-glasses.  These  are 
very  cheap,  and  when  placed  between  the  ocular 
and  objective,  increase  their  magnifying  power -very 
greatly,  without  interfering  to  any  great  extent 
with  the  definition. 

At  some  future  time  I  will  send  you  a  few  more 
chips  struck  off  from  our  active  Society. 

THE  WRYNECK. 

riPHE  adaptation  of  the  structure  of  the  Wry- 
■*-  neck  to  its  habits  is  not  inferior  to  that 
of  the  Woodpecker,  or  indeed  of  any  other  bird. 
Those  warm,  lowland,  and  (compared  with  the  North 
and  West  of  the  country)  dry  regions  to  which  it 
comes,  abound  with  the  minuter  insects,  especially 
with  aphides  and  the  smaller  tribes  of  ants.  These 
last  arc  continually  careering  about  on  the  boles 
and  branches  of  the  trees ;  and  it  is  to  them  es- 
pecially that    the  attention  of   the  Wryneck    is 


directed,  so  much  so  as  to  have  merited  and  ob- 
tained the  provincial  name  of  the  "Emmet-hunter." 
These  auts  the  Wryneck  catches  with  the  tongue, 
an  organ  which  it  can  protrude  at  least  an  inch,  and 
retract  again  with  the  rapidity  of  lightning,  so  that 
when  the  ants  are  coursing  about  they  are  picked 
up,  oue  by  one,  without  the  capture  producing  any 
alarm,  or  even  being  noticed  by  the  rest.     They  are 
captured  not  only  on  the  stems  of  trees,  but  on  the 
ground,  and  they  are  even  picked  from  their  dens 
and  hills,  especially  at  those  times  when  they  are 
busy  in  bringing  out  the  larvae  to  the  sun  and  air. 
Disturbing  their  dwelling  readily  brings  out  the 
auts  at  any  time,  if  the  weather  is  dry,  and  the 
Wryneck  uses  both  its  bill  and  the  horny  point  of 
its  tongue  for  that  purpose;  aud  when  the  little 
warriors  mount  the  breach  to  reconnoitre  and  try  if 
they  can  repel  the  enemy,  the  Wryneck  picks  them 
up,  soldier  after  soldier,  till  none  are  left.     When 
it  is  engaged  over  an  abundant  supply  of  its  favour- 
ite food,  whether  on  the  trunk  of  a  tree  or  on  the 
ground,  the  body  is  motionless,  but  the  head  is  con- 
tinually moving  from  side  to  side,  and  the  dark 
mesial  line  on  the  back  twining  like  a  serpent.     At 
those  times  the  motions  of  the  tongue  are  so  quick 
that  they  can  hardly  be  observed.    Indeed,  the  bird 
is  altogether  so  shy  and  retiring  in  its  habits,  that 
it  is  difficult  to  be  got  sight  of,  unless  one  come 
softly  upon  it  at  those  times  when  it  is  basking  on 
or  near  the  ant-hills,  while  the  ants  are  taking  their 
siesta,  which  most  of  them  do,  though  at  different 
times,    according    to  the  variety. — Jludie,    "  The 
Feathered  Tribes  of  the  British  Islands." 


THE  MINA  AND  THE  CHOLERA. 

A  CURIOUS  phenomenon  has  recently  occurred 
-£*-  at  Mauritius,  where  that  terrific  scourge  the 
cholera  has  been  raging  with  desolating  effect. 
There  is  a  bird  in  that  island  called  the  Martin,  but 
it  is  more  properly  the  Mina.  This  bird  is  about  the 
size  of  the  starling,  whose  habits  it  possesses  in  a 
great  degree.  It  exists  in  immense  numbers,  and  is 
a  grand  destroyer  of  all  insects.  On  this  account  it 
is  seldom  or  ever  shot  at,  especially  as  it  is  a  great 
comforter  to  all  cattle,  whose  hides  it  entirely  clears 
from  ticks  and  other  vermin.  During  the  prevalence 
of  cholera  at  Mauritius,  these  birds  disappeared. 
Such  a  circumstance  had  never  before  occurred,  and 
the  real  cause  of  their  departure  is  still  a  mystery. 
May  it  not  have  been  that  some  species  of  insect  on 
which  they  fed  had  likewise  migrated,  and  that 
certain  noxious  animalcules  which  had  been  kept 
down  by  this  class  had  thus  multiplied  in  the  at- 
mosphere until  their  numbers  caused  disease  ?  All 
suppositions  on  such  a  subject  must,  however,  remain 
in  obscurity,  as  no  proof  can  be  adduced  of  their 
correctness.— S.  W.  Baker,  "  Wanderings  in  Ceylon" 


83 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Silvery  Hair-tail. — I  observed  in  the  January 
number  of  Science-Gossip  that  a  specimen  of  this 
fish  had  been  taken  near  Swanage  in  December. 
A  fisherman  of  Durgan  (on  the  Helford  harbour) 
brought  to  me  on  the  4th  January  that  species  of 
Trichiurus  which  he  had  caught  in  his  net.  It  was 
quite  new  to  the  old  experienced  fisherman  of  the 
village.  It  was  like  a  bar  of  silver,  about  two  feet 
in  length.  I  requested  him  to  take  it  to  a  medical 
friend  in  Falmouth  for  his  more  complete  examin- 
ation. This  is  the  fifth  specimen  taken  on  the 
south-west  coast  within  two  months. — C.  F. 

Baby  Hippopotamus.  —  At  the  meeting  of  the 
Zoological  Society  of  London,  21st  February,  the 
Secretary  announced  the  birth  of  a  young  Hippo- 
potamus in  the  Society's  Gardens,  which  had  taken 
place  that  day,  being  the  first  occurrence  of  this 
event  in  England,  although  this  animal  had  previ- 
ously bred  in  some  of  the  Continental  gardens.  It 
died  however  within  two  days. 

An  Intelligent  Cat.— At  one  of  the  principal 
railway  stations  in  Manchester,  a  tabby  cat  is  often 
to  be  seen  running  about.  She  belongs  to  the 
refreshment-room,  and  is  very  friendly  with  some  of 
the  lady  travellers.  One  of  these  ladies  always 
treats  puss  to  a  sponge-cake,  and  as  soon  as  she  has 
seated  herself  in  the  waiting-room,  the  cat  jumps 
into  her  lap.  In  the  course  of  her  peregrinations, 
puss  sometimes  finds  herself  between  the  rails 
when  a  train  is  coming,  and  she  then  squats  down 
until  it  has  passed  or  come  to  a  standstill.— £.  E.  H. 

The  Eiery-crested  Wren  {Regulus  igni-ca- 
pillus). — The  discovery  of  this  Regulus  as  a  British 
bird  is  in  itself  rather  a  curious  matter,  as  the 
honour  of  it  belongs  to  a  cat  in  the  possession  of  a 
gentleman  at  Swaffham.  Puss  and  her  master  are 
both  fond  of  birds,  though  for  different  reasons  no 
doubt ;  but  puss  studies  her  master's  interest  as 
well  as  her  own,  and  affords  another  proof  that  the 
feline  race  are,  by  a  little  attention,  fit  for  other  pur- 
poses than  mere  mousing.  Well,  the  cat  in  question 
is  a  very  notable  bird-catcher ;  at  first,  no  doubt,  for 
the  supply  of  her  own  appetite  ;  but  her  master  and 
she  now  so  well  understand  each  other,  that  when 
she  catches  a  bird  she  brings  it  to  him.  If  it  suits 
his  purpose,  she  is  fondled  and  fed ;  if  not,  the  bird 
is  returned  to  her,  and  she  does  with  it  as  she  likes. 
In  that  way  she  brought  the  fiery-crested  wren  to 
her  master,  a  young  bird,  and  just  at  the  season 
when  the  young,  if  hatched  in  the  country,  would 
have  begun  to  fly.  That  afforded  a  hint  which  was 
followed  up.  The  old  birds  were  observed  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  very  soon  after  they  were  ob- 
served near  Brighton.  —  Mttdie,  "The  Feathered 
Tribes  of  the  British  Islands." 


Parasites  in  the  Interior  of  a  Mole  Flea. 
— In  August  last  I  caught  a  mole  on  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  which  had  become  too  hard  for  him 
easily  to  escape.  As  usual,  he  was  infested  with  fleas 
to  a  very  considerable  extent.  I  secured  a  few  for 
examination,  and  amongst  them  was  one  of  an  ex- 
traordinary size.  Even  without  the  aid  of  the  micro- 
scope, it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  abdomen  was  dis- 
tended in  an  unnatural  manner.  After  soaking  in 
liquor  potassse,  and  squeezing  it  between  two  glasses 
prior  to  mounting,  I  was  surprised  to  see  large  num- 
bers of  mites  expelled  from  the  abdomen;  and  after 
I  had  mounted  it  in  balsam,  I  was  pleased  to  find 
that  seven  mites  still  remained  in  the  abdomen.  1 
enclose  a  drawing  of  one,  and  should  be  glad  to 
know  whether  any  reader  of  Science-Gossip  has 
met  with  a  similar  occurrence,  and  also  how  the 
presence  of  such  a  number  of  mites  in  the  interior 
of  the  flea  is  to  be  accounted  for.—  G.  II.  Stubington, 
Basingstoke. 

Pterodina  valvata.— About  the  end  of  January 
I  found  Actinophrys  Fichomii  and  viridis  in  abun- 
dance in  a  pool  on  the  forest  at  Snaresbrook,  to- 
gether with  other  Rhizopods.  While  studying  Ac- 
tinophrys, I  was  agreeably  surprised  by  seeing  a 
pretty  Brachionsean  Rotifer  swimming  across  the 
field  of  the  microscope,  and  on  closer  examination 
it  proved  to  be  a  specimen  of  Pterodina  valvata, 
described  by  Dr.  Hudson  in  the  January  number  of 
the  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,  p.  25.  Subse- 
quent dips  from  my  bottle  produced  other  speci- 
mens, but  I  never  managed  to  get  more  than  one 
under  the  microscope  at  the  same  time.  I  am  not 
sure  that  Dr.  Hudson's  figure  (pi.  lxxii.)  is  quite 
accurate  as  to  the  bosses  round  the  margin  of  the 
lorica.  He  represents  five  bosses  on  either  side, 
and  a  median  one  in  a  line  with  the  tail.  In  the 
specimens  I  examined  on  this  point,  1  found  six 
bosses  on  either  side,  and  no  median  one,  the  line  of 
the  tail  coming  between  two  of  the  bosses.  I  have 
not,  however,  observed  a  sufficient  number  of  spe- 
cimens to  speak  positively.  The  number  of  the 
bosses  may  be  variable. — H.  R. 

The  Kestrel  (Falco  tinntcnculus). — I  have  read 
with  much  pleasure  the  interesting  account  which 
"  A.  G.  H."  has  given  of  his  Kestrel  in  your  last 
number,  but  I  think  he  has  made  a  mistake  in  at- 
tributing inaccuracy  of  description  to  three  well- 
known  and  trusted  writers  on  natural  history.  At 
page  G3  he  says,  "  Wood,  Macgillivray,  Mudic,  and 
others  describe  the  iris  as  yellow, — in  her  it  is  dark 
brown."  Knowing  that  Macgillivray,  especially,  is 
famed  for  being  one  of  the  most  scrupulously  cor- 
rect and  careful  of  observers,  I  was  of  course  some- 
what surprised  at  his  alleged  failure  in  this  instance. 
Happening  to  possess  all  three  of  the  works  referred 
to  by  "  A.  G.  H,"  I  at  once  compared  his  statement 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE. GOSSIP. 


S9 


with  those  of  the  three  authors.  I  give  you1  the 
results:— Mudie,  vol.  i.  p.  92,  edition  of  1834,  says, 
"  The  eye  of  the  Kestrel  is  peculiarly  brilliant ;  the 
irides  are  rich  brown,  which  contrasts  well  with  the 
dark  stripe  and  the  pale  feathers  at  the  base  of  the 
bill  and  over  the  eye."  Macgillivray,  "British 
Birds,"  vol.  hi.  p.  327,  edition  of  1S40,  distinctly 
says,  "  irides  hazel."  Wood,  "  Illustrated  Natural 
History,"  vol.  ii.  p.  82,  edition  of  1S62,  does  not 
mention  the  iris  at  all;  but  he  says,  "the  legs,  toes, 
cere,  and  orbits  of  the  eyes  are  yellow."  It  is  never 
safe  to  quote  from  memory.—/.  Y.  H. 

Otters. — Two  fine  otters  have  been  taken  during 
the  winter  in  this  place,  near  the  junction  of  the 
rivers  Thames  and  Wey. — Arthur  R.  Graham,  Wey- 
bridge. 

"Eye-stones"  (p.  21). — There  is  a  very  interest- 
ing notice  on  these  objects  in  Humboldt's  "  Travels 
to  the  Equinoctial  Regions  of  America"  (Bonn's 
edition,  i.  197),  which  I  beg  leave  to  copy :— "Of 
all  the  productions  on  the  coasts  of  Araya,  that 
which  the  people  consider  as  the  most  extraordinary, 
or  we  may  say  the  most  marvellous,  is  'the  stone 
of  the  eyes'  (piedra  de  los  ojos).  This  calcareous 
substance  is  a  frequent  subject  of  conversation, 
being,  according  to  the  natural  philosophy  of  the 
natives,  both  a  stone  and  an  animal.  It  is  found  in 
the  sand,  where  it  is  motionless  ;  but  if  placed  on  a 
polished  surface,  for  instance  on  a  pewter  or  earthen 
plate,  it  moves  when  excited  by  lemon-juice.  If 
placed  in  the  eye,  the  supposed  animal  turns  on 
itself,  and  expels  every  other  foreign  substance  that 
has  been  accidentally  introduced.  At  the  new  salt- 
works, and  at  the  village  of  Maniquarez,  these  stones 
of  the  eyes  (they  are  found  in  the  greatest  abundance 
near  Cape  Araya)  were  offered  to  us  by  hundreds, 
and  the  natives  were  anxious  to  show  us  the  experi- 
ment of  the  lemon-juice.  They  even  wished  to  put 
sand  in  our  eyes,  in  order  that  we  might  ourselves 
try  the  efficacy  of  the  remedy.  It  was  easy  to  see 
that  the  stones  are  thin  and  porous  opercula,  which 
have  formed  part  of  small  univalve  shells.  Their 
diameter  varies  from  one  to  four  lines.  One  of  their 
two  surfaces  is  plane,  and  the  other  convex.  These 
calcareous  opercula  effervesce  with  lemon-juice,  and 
put  themselves  in  motion  in  proportion  as  the  car- 
bonic acid  is  disengaged.  By  the  effect  of  a  similar 
reaction,  loaves  placed  in  an  oven  move  sometimes 
on  a  horizontal  plane, — a  phenomenon  that  has  given 
occasion,  in  Europe,  to  the  popular  prejudice  of 
enchanted  ovens.  The  piedras  de  los  ojos,  introduced 
in  the  eye,  act  like  the  small  pearls,  and  different 
round  grains  employed  by  the  American  savages  to 
increase  the  flowing  of  tears.  These  explanations 
were  little  to  the  taste  of  the  inhabitants  of  Araya. 
Nature  has  the  appearance  of  greatness  to  man  in 
proportion  as  she  is  veiled  in  mystery ;  and  the  ig- 


norant are  prone  to  put  faith  in  everything  that 
borders  on  the  marvellous."  This  information  will 
certainly  satisfy  your  correspondent's  wish  to  learn 
more  about  eye-stones.  I  possess  a  great  many 
specimens  in  my  collections,  and  would  gladly  ex- 
change them  for  English  diatomacese,  mounted  and 
named.  Messrs.  Triibner  &  Co.,  GO,  Paternoster 
Row,  London,  will  forward  letters  to  my  address. 
— A.  Ernst,  Caracas,  Venezuela. 

Freshwater  Molluscs.  —  "  Laid  up  for  the 
winter," — Anodonta  cygnea,  which  inhahits  a  small 
stream  here,  had  buried  itself  deeply  into  the  mud, 
leaving  only  the  extreme  posterior  margin  of  its 
shell  out,  when  I  visited  the  rivulet  on  the  12th  of 
last  October.  Assiminea  Grayana  has  a  habit  of 
gathering  together  in  great  numbers  around  reeds, 
&c,  on  the  surface  of  the  muddy  Thames  banks. 
Conovulus  denticulatus  congregates  in  a  similar 
manner  at  the  approach  of  cold  weather,  but  under 
stones,  and  such  shelter  as  it  can  find  on  the  river 
banks.  Clausilia  laminata,  which  abounds  on 
chalky  banks  at  Dartford,  is  fond  of  heaps  of  sticks 
and  decayed  Clematis,  from  which,  however,  it  comes 
out  in  mild  weather  even  in  December  and  January, 
when  I  have  taken  it  crawling.  Helix  caperata  is 
active  at  intervals  ;  during  the  whiter  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  shells  die.  Dead  shells  were  most 
numerous  in  a  sample  taken  in  January;  and  out  of 
about  a  hundred  II.  virgata,  taken  at  the  same.time 
for  examination,  there  was  only  one  living  shell. 
The  H.  virgata  had  retired  under  the  rubbish  at  the 
bottom  of  an  old  chalk-pit;  near  the  dead  shells 
were  masses  of  eggs,  apparently  belonging  to  the 
species. — Harry  C.  Leslie,  Erith. 

The  Mussel's  Movement. — I  remember  having 
seen  it  stated  in  a  work  on  natural  history  that  the 
mussel  has  not  the  power  of  moving  from  place  to 
place,  and  that  it  remains  permanently  fixed  to  the 
same  spot.  This,  I  believe,  is  the  commonly  re- 
ceived opinion,  but  it  is  an  erroneous  oue  ;  for, 
though  the  mussel  does  not  often  move,  or  to  any 
great  distance  at  a  time,  yet  it  certainly  has  the 
power  of  progression.  To  effect  a  movement,  it 
extends  its  tongue-like  foot  to  its  utmost  length ; 
then,  securing  itself  by  pressing  the  end  of  the  foot 
to  the  spot,  it  gradually  draws  itself  forward, 
breaking,  at  the  same  time,  the  byssus  by  which  it 
has  formerly  been  attached.  At  every  step  it 
secures  itself  temporarily  by  new  byssus,  which  it 
necessarily  breaks  at  every  move. — A.  E.  Murray. 

Sea-birds  in  Manchester.  —  On  the  14th 
February  a  sea-gull  was  shot  in  Peel  Park,  Salford. 
During  the  severe  weather  which  prevailed  about 
that  time,  several  other  sea-birds  were  noticed  in 
the  same  neighbourhood,  and  also  large  flocks  of  the 
Fieldfare.- 67.  H.  II. 


90 


HAEDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Sea-Urchins.— When  in  Vancouver's  Island  last 
year,  1  happened  to  be  at  an  Indian  village,  when  a 
canoe  was  just  being  hauled  on  to  the  beach,  filled 
with  sea-urchins.  It  was  at  once  surrounded  by 
about  a  score  of  old  men  and  women,  who  (not- 
withstanding the  prickles)  opened  the  shells  easily 
with  their  bare  hands,  and  greedily  devoured  the 
inside.  I  was  invited  to  join  them,  and  after  filling 
my  hands  with  the  prickles,  I  succeeded  in  opening 
one ;  but  the  contents,  though  not  positively  dis- 
agreeable, were  not  suited  to  my  fastidious  stomach. 
This  is  the  only  occasion  on  which  I  have  seen  them 
eaten  raw.  But  in  the  West  Indies  they  are  gene- 
rally eaten  as  described  by  H.  E.  Watney;  and, 
indeed,  the  common  name  there  for  them  is  sea-eggs. 
—  IF.  11.  C. 

The  Small  Eggar  {Eriogaster  lacustris).  — 
Images  of  this  species  emerged  last  month  (Fe- 
bruary) from  pupa;  of  the  autumn  of  1869.  Nor- 
mally they  should  have  appeared  in  February,  1870, 
just  a  year  before.  A  single  male  did  emerge  at 
that  time.  The  pupae  have  been  kept  in  a  cool 
place,  yet  one  where  I  have  always  kept  lepidoptera 
in  their  various  stages,  and  have  never,  before  this 
instance,  found  them  abnormal  in  their  emergence. 
Are  not  instances  of  such  great  retardation  un- 
usual?—.?7. G.  Binnie. 

Is  the  Landrail  a  Bird  of  Passage  ?  (pp. 
45,  70,  and  71). -The  Rev.  Gilbert  White,  speaking 
of  the  landrail,  which  he  describes  as  a  rare  bird  at 
Selborne,  says,  "  This  is  deemed  a  bird  of  passage 
by  all  the  writers ;  yet,  from  its  formation,  seems  to 
be  poorly  qualified  for  migration,  for  its  wings  are 
short,  and  placed  so  forward,  and  out  of  the  centre 
of  gravity,  that  it  flies  in  a  very  heavy  and  em- 
barrassed manner,  with  its  legs  hanging  down  ;  and 
can  hardly  be  sprung  a  second  time,  as  it  runs  very 
fast,  and  seems  to  depend  more  on  the  swiftness  of 
its  feet  than  on  its  flying."  Mr.  Markwick's  ob- 
servation on  the  above  is  as  follows  : — "That  it  is  a 
bird  of  passage  there  can  be  little  doubt,  though 
Mr.  White  thinks  it  poorly  qualified  for  migration, 
on  account  of  the  wings  being  short  and  not  placed 
in  the  exact  centre  of  gravity.  How  this  may  be  I 
cannot  say ;  but  I  know  that  its  heavy,  sluggish 
flight  is  not  owing  to  its  inability  of  flying  faster, 
for  I  have  seen  it  fly  very  swiftly,  although,  in 
general,  its  actions  are  sluggish.  Its  unwillingness 
to  rise  proceeds,  I  imagine,  from  its  sluggish  dis- 
position and  its  great  timidity  ;  for  it  will  sometimes 
squat  so  close  to  the  ground  as  to  suffer  itself  to  be 
taken  up  by  the  hand  rather  than  rise,  and  yet  it 
will  at  times  run  very  fast."  Mr.  Edward  Jesse, 
the  editor  of  Bohn's  edition  of  the  "  Natural  History 
of  Selborne,"  appends  the  following  foot-note  on 
this  subject : — "  The  landrail  or  corncrake  is  a  bird 
of  passage  and  a  summer  visitor  to  this  country. 


When  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Swansea,  some  years 
ago,  I  was  assured  by  a  gentleman  residing  near 
that  place  that  he  discovered  in  a  field  near  the  sea 
a  large  congregation  of  these  birds.  The  next  day 
not  one  was  to  be  found."  The  Bev.  J.  G.  Wood 
and  the  llev.  J.  C.  Atkinson  also  consider  ,the 
landrail  a  bird  of  passage. — G.  II.  H. 

The  Periwinkle  and  its  Shell.— Periwinkles 
have  the  power  of  remedying  any  injury  that  may 
happen  to  their  shells.  This  I  had  an  opportunity 
of  observing  from  accidentally  dropping  one  when 
placing  it  in  the  aquarium.  By  the  accident  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  fore  upper  edge  of  the 
shell  was  broken  off,  leaving  a  part  of  the  animal 
bare  and  unprotected.  Despite  this  misfortune,  the 
mutilated  mollusc  was  placed  in  the  aquarium,  and, 
in  the  course  of  a  fortnight,  it  was  evident  that  the 
creature  was  remedying  the  evil ;  and  now  (about 
six  months  after)  the  shell  is  again  sound  and  per- 
fect to  the  fore  edge,  the  only  difference  being  that 
there  is  a  mark  showing  where  the  new  piece  has 
been  added  to  the  old.  Doubtless  other  mollusks 
have  the  same  power. — A.  E.  Murray. 

Night-fliers  in  Brazil. — Huge  moths,  those 
fairies  of  the  insect  world,  have  now  taken  the 
places  of  the  butterflies,  and  myriads  of  fireflies 
never  weary  in  their  torch-light  dance.  Ear  down 
the  road  comes  on  a  blaze,  steady,  streaming  like  a 
meteor.  It  whizzes  past,  and  for  an  instant  the 
space  is  illumined,  and  dewy  jewels  from  the  leaves 
throw  back  the  radiance.  It  is  the  Lautern-ily 
seeking  what  he  himself  knows  best,  by  the  fiery 
guide  upon  his  head. — Edwards,  "  Voyage  up  the 
Amazon" 

White  Ants. — The  White  Ants  are  a  curse  upon 
the  country :  although  the  hut  is  swept  daily,  and 
the  galleries  destroyed,  they  rebuild  everything 
during  the  night,  sealing  the  support  to  the  roof 
and  entering  the  thatch.  Articles  of  leather  or  wool 
are  the  first  devoured.  The  rapidity  with  which 
they  repair  their  galleries  is  wonderful;  all  their 
work  is  carried  on  with  cement :  the  earth  is  con- 
tained in  their  stomachs,  and  this  being  mixed  with 
some  glutinous  matter,  they  deposit  it  as  bees  do 
their  wax.  Although  the  earth  of  this  country,  if 
tempered  for  house- building,  will  crumble  in  the 
rain,  the  hills  of  the  White  Ants  remain  solid  and 
waterproof,  owing  to  the  glue  in  the  cement.  1 
have  seen  three  varieties  of  White  Ants,  the  largest 
about  the  size  of  a  small  wasp  :  this  does  not  attack 
dwellings,  but  subsists  upon  fallen  trees.  The 
second  variety  is  not  so  large  :  this  species  seldom 
enters  buildings.  The  third  is  the  greatest  pest : 
this  is  the  smallest,  but  thick  and  juicy;  the  earth 
is  literally  alive  with  them,  nor  is  there  one  square 
foot  of  ground  free  from  them  iu  Latooka.— Sir  S. 
Baler,  "Exploration  of  t lie  Nile  Sources.'' 


HA  KLMVICKE'S    SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 


91 


B  0  T  A  I\T  Y. 

Absorption  of  Air  by  the  Tissues  of 
Plants.— In  making  certain  investigations  with 
respect  to  the  growth  and  development  of  vegetable 
cells,  I  have  once  or  twice  come  across  a  circum- 
stance which  I  think  deserves  not  tee.  It  is  a  com- 
mon thing  to  find  air  in  the  spiral  and  annular 
vessels  of  plants,  which  escapes  from  their  open 
ends  into  the  water  surrounding  the  object  under 


Fig-.  55. 

the  thin  glass  cover.  But  I  have  noticed  a  gradual 
absorption  of  this  air,  apparently  into  the  tissues  of 
the  plant  under  observation.  The  absorption  is  so 
rapid  that  it  may  be  readily  observed.  The  two 
extremities  of  the  air-bubble  draw  gradually  nearer 
to  one  another,  with  a  kind  of  dragging  motion, 
until  the  air  finally  disappears.  The  air,  I  suppose, 
must  be  carbonic  acid.- — J.  S.  Tide. 

Language  of  Flowers. — What  is  the  earliest 
work  which  treats  of  flowers  from  the  stand-point 
indicated  by  the  above  heading  ?  Emblematic 
uses  of  flowers  prevailed,  undoubtedly,  in  very  early 
times;  possibly  suggested  the  "lily-work"  of  the 
Temple  (1  Kings  vii.  22,  and  other  passages)  ;  the 
lily  being  the  emblem  of  purity  and  innocence. — 
R.  T.,  M.A. 

Gentian.  —  Linnaeus  records  {Flora  Lappon., 
p.  6%  ed.  1792),  that  a  decoction  from  this  bitter 
plant  is  sometimes  employed  with  good  effect  iu 
the  case  of  country  people  suffering  from  inter- 
mittent (ever,  and  that  on  this  ground  it  had  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Surge  ct  ambttla.  Is  there  any 
English  equivalent  to  this  in  common  use? — R.  T., 
3I.J. 

The  Chrysanthemum.— The  Indian  or  Chinese 
chrysanthemum  was  introduced  into  this  country 
as  long  back  as  the  year  1764,  Miller  having  received 
it  from  Nimpu,  and  cultivated  it  in  the  Botanic 
Garden  at  Chelsea,  where  it  was  probably  lost, 
through  some  accident,  as  it  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  first  edition  of  Horl  us  Kewensis.  —  Flora 
Historic  a. 

The  Elm.— Is  celebrated  iu  the  "Iliad"  (book 
xxi.)  for  having  formed  a  hasty  bridge,  over  which 
Achilles  escaped  Xanthus,  when  that  river,  by  its 
overflowing,  had  put  him  in  danger  of  being  carried 
away. — Sylva  Florifera. 

Veronica  Buxbaumii. — This  Buxbaum's  Speed- 
well, which  is  described  in  Withering's    "British 


Botany  "  as  flowering  from  August  to  October,  I 
found  at  Woolstone,  near  Southampton,  with  two 
full  blooms  on  the  Gth  February,  this  year.— ^wes 
Lurij. 

Luminous   Fungi. — Yes !  some  British  plants 
and  fungi  are  full  of  luminosity.     The  potato  in  a 
state   of    decomposition  will  give  out  a  powerful 
light,  and  different  species  of  Agaricus  emit  flashes 
of  a  phosphoric  nature.     I  remember  being  a  little 
puzzled,  and,  1  confess  with  shame,   not  a  little 
frightened,  about  five  years  ago  in  Hampshire.      I 
had  just  made  a  new  fernery  at  the  lower  end  of  my 
greenhouse.      The  decaying  roots  of  some  old  trees 
had  been  used,  and  on  looking  through  the  glass 
door  into  the  conservatory  one  night,  just  before 
locking  the  dining-room  up,  I  saw  some  faint  flashes 
of  light.    I  mentioned  the  circumstance  at  breakfast 
next  morning  to  some  relatives  who  were  staying 
with  me,  and  got  well  laughed  at — was  asked  if,  as 
I  was  a  Welsh  woman,  I  did  not  fancy  I  had  seen  a 
"  Canwyll  Corph  "  (Corpse  Candle),  the  light  some 
of  the  South  Wales  country  folk  believe  to  proceed 
from  any  house  where  a  death  is   shortly  to  take 
place.     I  was  a  little  nervous,  and  next  morning, 
when  it  was  proposed  we  should  go  down  from  the 
drawing-room   about  nine  o'clock  to  look  for  the 
"  Canwyll  Corph,"  fairly  started  back  and  screamed 
out  with  terror  on  seeing  the  powerful  light  plainly 
visible  in  the  greenhouse.    After  a  little  jesting 
one  gentleman,  who  had  been  iu  California,  admitted 
that  he  had  been  out  all  the  morning  seeking  for 
phosphoric  wood  and  plants  iu  order  to  give  me  a 
fright.      He  had  succeeded  admirably,  and  1  have 
good  reason  to  remember  luminous  fungi.     Some 
cryptoganiic    plants    are    luminous,  —  Schistostega 
osmimdacea  is  ;  aud,  strange  to  relate,  some  human 
beings  are.    I  know  of  one  instance  in  England.     I 
do  not  like  to  mention  names,  for  the  old  lady  is  still 
alive,  and  a  very  dear  good  old  lady  she  is ;  but  she 
would  be  fearfully  offended  if  any  one  hinted  to  her 
that  the  bright  spots  which  occasionally  appear  on 
her  were  phosphorescent,  and  to    be  accounted  for 
scientifically.      She  is  eccentric,  and  is  quite  proud 
of  these  "tokens,"  as  she  calls  them.     She  quite 
believes  they  are  sent  to  her  as  warnings — that  some 
one  she  knows  will  soon  die ;  and  as  she  lives  iu 
rather  a  large  village,  takes  an  interest  in  the  poor, 
and  knows  every  soul  iu  the  parish,  it  generally  comes 
to  pass  that  she  does  hear  of  a  death  after  seeing 
"  the  token."    I  have  often  found  it  difficult  to  keep 
grave  when  she  has  said  to  me,  "  I  saw  the  token 
again  last  night,  sonic  one  will  die  shortly  ;  you  know 
Mary  "  (that  is  her  daughter)  "  observed  the  spot 
on  my  face  last  week,  the  very  day  before  poor 
James  Carter  sank."     Certain  insects  are,  we  know, 
luminous,    so    are  some  living  molluscs,  polypes, 
crustaceans,    and     others.  —  Helen     F.      Waincij, 
Beaumaris. 


92 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Bunt  of  Wheat  as  a  Lens.— Most  micro- 
scopists  are  familiar  with  au  arrangement  by 
means  of  which  the  eye  of  a  beetle  mounted  in 
balsam,  and  placed  on  the  stage  of  the  microscope, 
a  little  out  of  focus,  is  made  to  show  in  each  facet 
the  image  of  a  small  object,  such  as  a  watch-key, 
placed  between  the  slide  and  the  source  of  light. 
The  fungus  Tilletia  caries,  commonly  called  the 
bunt  of  wheat,  possesses  similar  optical  properties 
when  mounted  in  Canada  balsam  ;  and  the  sharp 
definition  of  the  image  proves  that  the  spores  of 
the  fungus  possess  what  opticians  call  "a  good 
figure."  It  should  be  remarked  that  whilst  the 
beetle's  eye  must  be  beyond  the  focus  of  the  objec- 
tive in  order  to  show  the  image,  a  difference  of 
refractive  power  in  the  bunt  renders  it  necessary 
that  it  should  be  within  the  focus.  As  the  spores 
are  smaller  than  the  lenses  of  the  beetle's  eye,  a 
proportionately  higher  power  is  required  to  show 
the  image.— F.  W.  M. 

Hydra.— I  had  last  summer  a  number  of  Hydras 
in  a  small  aquarium  with  Volvox  globator,  &c.  As  the 
winter  came  on,  they  all  disappeared,  and  for  three 
months  nothing  was  seen  of  the  Hydras.  I  ex- 
amined the  water  almost  daily,  from  the  time  of 
their  disappearance,  with  a  Coddington  lens,  but 
nothing  of  them  was  to  be  seen  until  March  2nd, 
when  I  observed  a  small  Hydra  attached  to  a  piece 
of  Anacharis  alsinastrum  (which  plant  had  been 
growing  in  the  water  the  whole  time),  aud  now 
there  are  several  of  them,  and  increasing  by  gem- 
mation, some  of  them  having  two  buds  at  a  time.  I 
mention  this,  as  I  believe  it  is  not  often  that  the 
reproduction  of  the  Hydra  has  been  observed 
in  the  confinement  of  an  aquarium.  —  James 
Fullagar. 

Quekett  Soiree.— The  Soiree  of  the  Quekett 
Microscopical  Club  was  held  on  Priday  evening, 
17th  March,  by  permission  of  the  authorities  at 
University  College,  Gower  Street,  and  was  not  a 
whit  behind  any  of  its  predecessors,  either  in  interest 
or  arrangement.  The  exertions  of  the  Soiree 
Committee  were  rewarded  by  the  presence  of  as 
large  a  company  as  the  building  could  comfortably 
accommodate,  and  by  the  expressions  of  general 
satisfaction. 

The  Lung  of  a  Prog.— At  the  last  meeting  of 
the  Quekett  Club,  an  American  gentleman  exhibited 
the  lung  of  a  living  frog  with  the  circulation  going 
on,  which  attracted  considerable  attention  during 
the  evening.  The  method  was  explained  by  the 
exhibitor.  This  was  one  of  the  features  only  of  a 
most  interesting  evening  meeting. 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Pield  Club  in  South- Western  London.— 
Can  you  tell  me  if  there  is  any  Naturalists'  Field 
Club  in  existence  in  these  South-western  suburbs 
of  London  ?  I  retain  very  pleasing  recollections  of 
excursions  with  the  Liverpool  Naturalists'  Pield 
Club  in  years  past,  and  I  have  just  been  speaking 
with  a  friend  who  agrees  with  me  in  wishing  that 
similar  excursions  could  be  organized  in  this  neigh- 
bourhood. We  should  both  be  glad  to  know  any 
who  might  have  a  like  feeling  with  ourselves,  and 
then,  it'  there  be  no  such  society  in  existence 
already  in  this  South-western  District,  we  might 
possibly  have  a  meeting  with  a  view  to  the  for- 
mation of  a  Pield  Club.— W.  II.  Hatcher,  Belmont, 
Batiersea. 

Popular  Errors  (page  70). — It  is  commonly 
said  that  rats  will  not  stay,  and  that  horses  will  never 
be  diseased,  where  a  goat  is  kept.  Is  it  the  odour  of 
the  goat  which  is  disagreeable  to  the  rats  ?  Odorous 
aud  bitter  plants  will,  it  is  said,  drive  away  bugs. 
Last  winter  a  farmer  I  know  kept  a  goat  among 
some  colts  in  a  shed.  One  of  the  colts,  a  two-year 
old.  had  a  tail  which  trailed  on  the  ground.  The  goat, 
taking  a  liking  to  this  particular  tail,  began  one  day 
and  pulled  the  hair  out,  leaving  it  a  complete  stump. 
A  great  part  of  the  hair  was  chewed  and  swallowed. 
The  goat  was  not  short  of  other  food. — George 
Roberts. 

The  Song  of  Birds. — The  purpose  which  the 
song  of  birds  answers  in  the  economy  of  Nature  is 
one  of  those  mysteries  which,  like  the  differences  of 
tint  in  their  plumage,  human  ingenuity  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  explain.  It  is  not,  however,  a  mere 
pairing  cry,  because  it  is  continued  until  the  birds 
break  the  shell,  and  in  some  instances  until  they 
are  able  to  ily.  We  may  be  sure,  however,  that  it 
has  its  use  ;  and  as  we  can  observe  that  the  females 
of  all  birds  which  have  that  cry,  whether  it  be  what 
we  call  song  or  not,  are  excited  when  it  is  uttered 
by  the  male;  it  may  be  that  it  produces  in  the  fe- 
male that  heat  which  is]necessary  for  hatching  the 
eggs.  In  ourselves  there  are  many  sounds  which 
make  the  heart  beat,  the  blood  dance,  and  the 
whole  body  glow,  we  know  not  why  ;  and  thus  we 
have  no  ground  for  denying  without  proof  that 
other  animals  may  be  affected  in  a  similar  manner. 
Perhaps  the  more  philosophical  way  of  considering 
it  is  to  suppose  that  it  produces  general  excitement, 
and  a  power  of  more  energetic  performance  in  all 
the  labour  which  the  birds  can  undertake.  The 
connection  between  the  song  and  the  plumage,  and 
the  silence  and  the  moult,  is  also  a  curious  matter, 
and  shows  that  the  whole  bird  is  subject  to  some 
general  law,  which,  though  it  lies  deep  beyond  the 
power  of  our  divination,  governs  even  the  minutest 
circumstance,  the  production  of  a  new  spot  or  gloss 
on  a  feather,  the  reddening  of  a  comb  or  a  wattle, 
or  the  inspiration  of  courage  into  birds  naturally 
timid.— Mudie,  "The  Feathered  Tribes  of  the  British 
Islands." 

GorgoniaDjE. — Major  Holland's  suggestion  that 
possibly,  a  few  specimens  of  the  living  polypes 
might  be  picked  up  amongst  the  debris  thrown  up 
on  our  shores,  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  your 
Cornish  readers.  Last  summer,  whilst  on  a  tour  in 
the  north  of  that  county,  1  found  several  of  the 


HAHDWICKE'S    S  CIEN  CE-GOSSIF. 


93 


horny  skeletons  of  Gorgonia  flabellum  on  the  beach 
near  Boscastle;  and  happening  to  visit  Tintagel 
after  a  heavy  ground  sea  I  found  the  shore  literally 
strewed  with  them,  in  all  states  of  preservation.  In 
a  few  cases  there  were  fragments  of  the  coenosarc 
still  clinging  to  the  sclerobasis,  but  I  was  not  for- 
tunate enough  to  find  a  living  specimen.  This  fact 
would  seem  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that  they  had 
been  carried  a  considerable  distance,  and  had 
suffered  much  buffeting  in  their  passage.  I  may 
add  that  the  local  Cornish  name  is  Sea-thorn. — 
W.  A.  G.,  Richmond. 

Popular  Errors. — It  may  interest  "  C.  K.  R." 
to  know  that  in  some  parts  of  Kent  there  is  an  idea 
prevalent  that  upon  the  belly  of  the  "  deaf  adder  " 
may  be  traced  the  words  : — 

"  If  I  could  hear  as  well  as  I  can  see, 
Neither  man  nor  beast  should  pass  by  me." 

The  notion  that  the  adder  is  deaf  is  by  no  means  a 
modern  one.  We  find  it  referred  to  inPsalm  lviii.  4 : 
"  Like  the  deaf  adder  that  stoppeth  her  ears." — 
E.  T.  Cox. 

Eggs  or  Lepidoptera. — "  G.  H.  B."  will  find  a 
good  deal  of  information  on  the  subject  of  pro- 
curing and  preserving  these  eggs  in  Dr.  Knaggs's 
"  Lepidopterist's  Guide."  I  have  procured  several 
by  breeding  the  females,  many  of  which  will  lay 
freely  in  captivity.  I  do  not  know  of  any  method 
of  preparation  by  means  of  which  the  natural  form 
and  delicacy  of  the  eggs  can  be  rendered  perma- 
ment,  but  recommend  their  examination  while  fresh. 
— R.  Egerton. 

Opercula. — I  have  some  opercula  similar  to 
those  described  by  "J.  W.  K."  (p.  69).  They  be- 
long to  the  genus  Turbo;  but  as  I  have  not  the 
shells,  I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  the  species. 
— R.  Egerton,  31,  Victoria  Road,  Kensington. 

Gizzard  op  Flea. — Among  the  interesting  ob- 
jects for  the  microscope  for  which  we  are  indebted 
to  the  dexterity  and  the  patience  of  the  preparers, 
there  is  one  of  great  beauty  known  as  the  "  Gizzard 
of  a  Flea."  Now  as  Monsieur  Dujardin,  in  his 
work  on  the  microscope,  which,  though  of  an  old 
date,  remains  as  yet  unsurpassed  by  any  modern 
book  for  the  accuracy  of  its  details,  makes  no  men- 
tion of  the  flea's  gizzard,  I  beg  to  invite  one  or 
more  of  your  numerous  readers  to  enrich  the  pages 
of  Science-Gossip  with  a  few  particulars  regarding 
the  construction  and  use  of  the  remarkable  organ 
in  question.— C.  G.  Martens. 

Fossils  of  the  Dolomitic  Conglomerate. — 
Can'lyou,  or  any  of  your  readers,  inform  me  whether 
any  fossil  mollusca  have  ever  been  found  in  the 
Dolomitic  conglomerate?  I  can  find  no  mention  of 
such ;  hence  I  was  both  surprised  and  gratified  at 
finding  the  other  day,in  that  formation,  near  Frome, 
Somerset,  ten  species  of  mollusca,  besides  a  small 
striated  fish-tooth  of  the  former;  seven  were  Lamelli- 
branchiata,  including  members  of  the  genera  Ostrea, 
Avicula,  Lima,  Pecten,  and  Modiola.  There  were 
also  a  small  Gasteropod,  and  two  Brachiopods— a 
Bhynconella,  and  a  remarkable  shell  (Discina?) 
with  a  limpet-shaped  upper  valve,  and  a  concave 
under  valve  with  a  deep  recess  towards  the  pos- 
terior part.  The  fossils  altogether,  though  differing 
specifically  from  any  others  that  I  am  acquainted 
with,  are  decidedly,  I  should  say,  of  Mesozoic  rather 


than  of  Palaeozoic  character.  This  would  tend  to 
confirm  the  present  opinion  with  regard  to  the  posi- 
tion of  the  Dolomitic  conglomerate — viz.,  Triassic 
rather  than  Permian.  It  has  been  suggested  that 
this  formation  is  the  representative  in  England  of 
the  missing  Muschelkalk  of  Germany.  The  con- 
glomerate is  shown  in  the  section  near  Frome,  with 
diagrammatic  distinctness  resting  unconformably 
upon  the  mountain  limestone,  while  above  it  is 
overlaid  conformably  by  the  inferior  oolite.  Its 
thickness  here  varies  from  two  to  seven  feet,  and  it 
consists  of  pebbles  of  the  subjacent  mountain  lime- 
stone rounded  by  attrition,  and  cemented  together 
by  a  light  grey  matrix  of  magnesian  limestone, 
which  by  exposure  becomes  decomposed  into  a 
soft  greenish-grey  earthy  matter.  It  is  in  two 
or  three  beds,  each  from  one  to  two  feet  in  thick- 
ness, parted  by  a  thin  stratum  of  black  clay. — 
H.  F.  Parson. 

A  Turbid  Aquarium  (see  Feb.  No.,  p.  46). — 
Occasional  opacity  in  an  aquarium  is,  in  many  in- 
stances, caused  by  changes  of  temperature.  Fine 
particles  are  separated  from  the  water  as  the  tem- 
perature falls,  which,  when  it  becomes  water  again, 
dissolve  and  disappear.  But  can  the  observer  be 
absolutely  certain  that  some  portions  of  the  mud 
are  not  agitated,  and  thus  mixed  with  the  water, 
through  the  agency  of  some  of  the  creatures  in  the 
aquarium — if  not  by  the  fishes,  possibly  by  the 
beetles  ?  If  he  has  there  any  beetles  of  size,  it  is 
possible  they  have  caused  the  turbidity  :  those  be- 
longing to  the  genus  Dytiscus  I  have  repeatedly 
noticed  have  a  great  liking  for  a  mud-bath.  The 
presence  of  some  moderate-sized  pieces  of  charcoal 
would,  it  is  likely,  be  of  service  where  mud  or  soil 
forms  part  of  the  substratum.  Sometimes,  it  is  true, 
an  aquarium  will  thrive  for  a  good  while  with  such 
substances  contained  in  it;  but  the  most  successful 
experiments  have  been  made  with  aquaria  having 
only  shingle  or  pebbles  at  the  bottom.  There  are 
very  few  plants  worth  growing  which  actually  re- 
quire the  nutriment  described ;  those  mentioned 
usually  thrive  on  water  only. —  W.  R.  H. 

Camphor  v.  Benzole. — How  are  we  to  preserve 
our  insects  ?  Hard  work  enough  is  it  to  secure 
them  sometimes,  and  when  we  have  them  snug  in 
our  cabinets  we  naturally  wish  to  preserve  them 
from  all  parasites,  and  also  to  keep  them  in  good 
condition.  Mr.  Newman  and  others  condemn  the 
use  of  camphor  as  inoperative  in  the  case  of  certain 
enemies,  and  also  as  a  cause  of  the  appearance  of 
greasiness  in  a  cabinet.  One  is  desirous  of  believing 
aught  that  comes  from  the  lips  or  pens  of  those 
whose 

"  Long  experience  doth  attain 
To  something  like  prophetic  strain." 

Yet,  when  we  consider  for  how  very  many  years 
camphor  has  been  used  as  a  preservative  in  cabinets 
and  cases,  it  is  not  easy  to  convince  ourselves  that 
it  is  useless  and  even  injurious.  On  one  point,  cer- 
tainly, I  am  disposed  to  make  a  stand.  The  chemi- 
cal composition  of  camphor  is  well  known,  and,  if 
the  drug  be  pure,  as  it  generally  is,  not  being 
notably  adulterated,  there  is  nothing  in  it  to  deposit 
grease  on  insects,  paper,  or  wood.  Its  volatility  is 
such,  as  all  have  noticed,  that,  when  enclosed,  it 
vaporizes  away  until  none  is  left.  Unless,  then,  it 
can  be  shown  that  the  fumes  of  the  camphor,  im- 
pregnating the  insects,  do,  by  some  decomposition 
they  occasion,  cause  grease  to  be  deposited,  I  can- 
not see  how  the  camphor  can  be  held  guilty  ;  and 


u 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


this  seems  a  not  very  probable  supposition.  Some  j 
may  consider,  as  is  asserted,  that  the  odour  of  benzole  ! 
is  the  more  agreeable  to  the  nose  of  the  entomolo- 
gist, though  really  such  a  preference  would  be 
singular;  yet  the  most  important  is,  which  is  the 
best  preservative  and  the  readiest  to  use  ?  Rags 
dipped  in  benzole  are  not  of  very  convenient  ap- 
plication in  many  cases,  and  the  odour  passes  off 
quickly  if  the  compartment  be  not  air-tight. 
Another  thing  is  worth  consideration  :  it  bas  been 
stated  that  fibrous  materials  which  have  been 
damped  with  benzole,  or  similar  preparations,  do 
sometimes  take  fire  spontaneously.  A  pleasant 
sight  for  an  insect-hunter,  on  his  return  from  a 
"mothing"  sally,  to  behold  his  cabinets  in  a  blaze. 
Would  be  bear  it  as  philosophically  as  Newton  did 
the  destruction  of  his  MSS.  by  "Diamond"?  I 
trow  not.—/.  R.  S.  C. 

A  Tropical  Forest. — If  I  rode  with  vasculum 
and  insect-net  and  fowling-piece  into  the  mountain 
woods,  there  was  still  the  like  pleasing  uncertainty 
of  what  might  occur,  with  the  certainty  of  abun- 
dance. Soon  a  gorgeous  butterfly  rushes  out  of  the 
gloom  into  the  sunny  glade,  and  is  in  a  moment 
seen  to  be  a  novelty.  Then  comes  the  excitement 
of  the  pursuit,  the  disappointment  of  seeing  it 
dance  over  a  thicket  out  of  sight,  the  joy  of  _  finding 
it  reappear,  the  tantalizing  trial  of  watching  the 
lovely  wings  flapping  just  out  of  reach,  the  patient 
waiting  for  it  to  descend,  the  tiptoe  approach  as  we 
see  it  "settle  on  a  flower,  the  breathless  eagerness 
with  which  the  net  is  poised,  and  the  triumphant 
flush  with  which  we  contemplate  the  painted  wings 
within  the  gauze,  and  the  admiration  with  which 
we  gaze  on  its  loveliness  when  held  in  the  trem- 
bling fingers.  Next  a  glittering  beetle  is  detected 
crawling  on  the  grey  bark  of  a  lichen-tree ;  here  is 
a  fine  caterpillar  feeding  yonder,  By-and-by  we 
emerge  into  a  spot  where,  for  some  cause  or  other, 
insects  seem  to  have  specially  congregated ;  a 
dozen  different  kinds  of  butterflies  are  flitting  to 
and  fro  in  bewildering  profusion  of  beauty,  and 
our  collecting-box  is  half  filled  in  the  course  of 
an  hour.  —  P.  H.  Gosse,  "  Romance  of  Natural 
History." 

The  Earwig. — What  is  the  true  etymology  of 
this  name  ?  We  all  know  the  tradition  which  tells 
how  this  insect  creeps  into  men's  ears,  and  works 
untold  mischief  in  their  brains,— a.tradition  which  is 
as  prevalent  on  the  Continent  as  among  ourselves  ; 
thus  the  animal  is  named  Perce  oreille  (ear-piercer) 
in  France,  Ohrwurm  (ear-worm)  in  Germany,  Pin- 
zainola  (little  piercer)  in  Italy,  &c.  Is  our  native 
name  due  to  the  same  tradition?  If  so,  what 
means  the  second  syllable  in  it  ?  But  can  it  be 
that,  after  all,  the  name  comes  from  quite  a  different 
source  ;  that  it  is  really  "  earwing  "  ;  and  is  derived 
from  the  shape  of  the  insect's  wing,  which,  when 
expanded,  bears  a  certain  resemblance  to  the  human 
ear?  Unlike  the  wings  of  most  insects,  which  are 
generally  elongate,  this  organ  is,  in  the  Forficulids, 
more  or  less  circular,  in  its  outline  and  traversed  by 
numerous  veinlets,  disposed  as  in  the  Maiden-hair 
Eern  {Adiantum),ot  as  a  fan.  When  at  rest,  the  wing- 
is  folded  lengthways;  it  is  then  again  folded  upon 
itself  for  about  one-third  of  its  length  ;  and  is  thus 
comfortably  packed  under  the  very  short  elytra  with 
which  the  creature  is  provided.  The  beautiful  man- 
ner in  which  the  wing  is  stowed  away  in  its  case 
suggested  to  Mr.  Westwood  the  name  of  Euplexo- 
pters  (or  insects  with  the  well-folded  wings),  in  lieu 


of  Degeer's  Dermapters  (or  leather-wings),  a  term 
having  regard  to  the  elytra,  not  to  the  true  wings. 
The  difficulty  of  unfolding  the  wing  in  order  to  get 
at  its  real  form  is  not  slight,  as  the  elastic  ribs 
resist  every  attempt  to  straighten  them,  and  the 
membrane  is  exceedingly  delicate  and  easily  torn. 
Nevertheless  its  elegant  shape,  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  is  packed  up,  are  well  worth  the  trouble 
involved  in  the  examination;  whether  the  observer 
be  thereby  convinced  of  the  appropriateness  of  the 
term  "ear-wing,"  or  not. — W.  W.  Spicer,  Potterne, 
Wilts. 

Insect  Eggs. — I  am  afraid  it  would  take  much 
space  to  tell  "  G.  H.  B."  where  to  find  eggs  of 
Lepidoptera,  and  then  the  when  would  be  wanted, 
and,  much  more  important  than  either,  the' prac- 
tised eye  of  an  entomologist  would  be  required. 
Most  entomologists  will  have  a  lot  of  eggs,  in  the 
course  of  a  season,  that  [they  do  not  'require  for 
breeding  purposes,  and  would  no  doubt  be  glad  to 
distribute  them.  I  shall  be  glad  to  do  so,  for  one, 
and  will  be  happy  to  hear  from  any  microscopist 
requiring  these  interesting  objects.  I  would  also 
be  glad  to  know  how  to  prevent  fertile  eggs  hatch- 
ing, without  injuring  them  for  the  microscope. 
Would  immersion  in  hot  water  spoil  them  ?  Barren 
eggs  shrivel  up.  Can  this  be  prevented?— John  E. 
Robson. 

Is  the  Landrail  a  Bird  op  Passage  ?— I 
have  a  skin  of  this  bird  that  was  brought  to  me  by 
a  lad  in  December,jlS6S.  He  caught  it  in  a  cave  on 
the  rocks,  and  it  was  alive  when  I  got  it.  I 
do  not  know  the  exact  date,  but  it  was  a  few  days 
before  Christmas  day.—  John  E.  Robson. 

Cleaning  Coral.— Could  any  of  your  readers 
kindly  inform  me  how  to  clean  coral  ?  I  have  tried 
soap  and  water,  but  cannot  succeed.—  IF.  H.  If. 

Who  Killed  Cock  Robin  ?— Without  wishing 
to  be  understood  as  speaking  "  on  authority,"  I  may 
venture  to  state  that  it  is  very  probable  that  our 
popular  version  of  "  Cock  Robin,"  was  written  by 
Oliver  Goldsmith.  All  who  are  familiar  with  the 
leading  facts  of  his  biography,  know  of  his  connec- 
tion with  Newbery,  a  bookseller  and  publisher,  the 
predecessor  of  a  still  existing  juvenile  library  in 
St.  Paul's  Churchyard  ;  and  will  thus  see  the  pro- 
bability of  his  having  produced  mauy,of  our  favourite 
nursery  tales  and  ditties,  which  it  may  not  have 
seemed  to  him  desirable  to  acknowledge  publicly. — 
A.  H. 

On  the  Broad  (Science-Gossip,  p.  50). — Is 
not  the  word  boulders  put  for  "bull-ders,"  i.e.  the 
bull-rushes  ;  large,  strong,  aquatic  plants  ?  The 
terminal  is  a  common  Saxon  form,  as  in  appul-der 

1  for  an  apple-tree  ;  maplc-der  for  a  maple-tree.  The 
pronunciation  of  boul,  for  bull,  is  not  further  out 

I  than  that'of  rond  for  rudd ;  as  quoted  in  the  same 

!  paper  —A.  II.,  March  13,  1871. 

"The  Story  of  a  Boulder"  in  your  January 
number,  besides  being  very  interesting,  called,  to 
t  my  mind  the  most  remarkable  collection  of  boulders 
1  have  ever  seen  in  any  part  of  the  world,  or  indeed 
that  I  ever  heard  of.  It  is  situated  close  to  the 
summit  of  Mount  Wellington,  near  Hobart  Town, 
Tasmania  ;  and  I  send  you  a  short  extract  from  my 
journal,  though  I  don't  know  whether  it  will  be  of 
the  least  use  to  you,  or  to  any  of  your  readers.  The 


HARDVYICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


95 


mountain  is  almost  flat  on  the  top,  and  the  sides  are  | 
(in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  boulders)  remarkably  j 
steep  and  precipitous,  and  from  the  peculiar  forma- 
tion of  the  bed  of  boulders,  and  the  marked  absenoe 
of  any  earth,  gravel,  or  anything  of  a  loose  nature 
in  the  neighbourhood,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  account  for 
their  formation,  by  the  same  process  that  produced 
your  correspondent's ;  though,  perhaps,  if  space 
permitted,  I  may  be  enlightened.  "  Nearly  4,000 
feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  close  to  the  summit  of 
the  mountain,  we  come  to  what  is  called  the  Ploughed 
'  Field,  which  is  a  collection  of  boulders  filling  an 
immense  natural  basin  or  hollow,  and  altogether 
covering  several  acres.  Each  boulder  is  of  several 
tons  weight,  the  whole  mass  sloping  upwards  at  a 
steep  angle.  The  bottom  or  lower  end  of  the  field 
terminates  abruptly  in  a  precipice  some  hundreds 
of  feet  deep.  How  deep  the  boulders  lie,  goodness 
only  knows ;  but  the  interstices  between  them  look 
unutterably  dark  and  dangerous,  there  being  ample 
room  for  several  people  to  slip  down  at  once,  into 
the  black  abyss  below.  We  jumped,  scrambled, 
and  climbed  from  boulder  to  boulder,  as  best  we 
could  (taking  good  care  not  to  slip),  till  safely 
across,  when  we  found  ourselves  within  a  few  feet 
of  the  flat  summit  of  the  mountain.  One  side  of  the 
Ploughed  Field  is  bounded  by  a  wall  of  tall  rocks, 
in  the  shape  of  cylindrical  pillars  reared  straight 
upright,  some  of  which  are  quite  50  feet  in  height, 
and  most  of  them  are  detached  from  those  around, 
so  that  the  whole  presents  an  appearance 

'  Like  a  hu?e  organ,  formed  by  Nature's  hand, 
To  thunder  forth  her  great  Creator's  praise.' 

And  so  form  a  most  imposing  object." — IF.  H.  C. 

New  Introductions. — I  lately  advocated  in  the 
pages  of  Science-Gossip  the  introduction  into 
Great  Britain  of  foreign  ^  insects  remarkable  for 
beauty  or  for  peculiarity  of  structure,  The  follow- 
ing passage  from  Mr.  P.  H.  Gosse's  well-known 
"  Introduction  to  Zoology "  (vol.  ii.  p.  354)  is  so 
much  to  the  point,  that  I  cannot  resist  transcribing 
it.  "  We  wonder  that  no  one  has  tried  to  naturalize 
some  of  those  splendid  foreign  butterflies  which 
inhabit  climates  similar  to  our  own,  and  whose 
caterpillars  feed  on  plants  which  grow  naturally  in 
both  localities  ;  and  there  are  many  such,  especially 
in  North  America;  such  as  the  beautiful  Papilio 
turtius  and  asterias,  the  former  of  which  feeds  in 
the;  larva  state  on  the  willow  and  ash,  and  the  latter 
on  the  parsnip  and  other  umbellifersc.  Both  of 
these  are  common,  even  so  far  north  as  Newfound- 
land. It  might,  doubtless,  be  easily  effected  by 
collecting  the  caterpillars  in  their  own  country,  and 
allowing  them  to  go  into  chrysalis,  in  which  state 
they  might  be  transported  during  the  winter,  and 
be  evolved  here  in  spring.  We  have  had  a  speci- 
men of  P.  asterias  produced  here  from  a  chrysalis 
which  we  had  brought  from  North  America ;  and 
we  have  seen  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Loddiges,  a 
specimen  of  Coronis,  a  noble  Brazilian  species,  which 
that  gentleman  informed  us  had  been  produced  in 
his  conservatory  at  Hackney,  having  been  probably 
introduced  in  the  earth  of  some  imported  plant. 
We  see  no  reason  indeed  why  the  magnificent  Lepi- 
doptera,  even  of  the  tropics,  might  not  be  reared  in 
our  conservatories  and  stove-houses  as  readily  as 
the  palms  and  Orchideseof  the'same  regions.  What- 
ever plant  might  be  the  food  of  the  larva,  it  could 
surely  be  obtained  in  England  in  the  present  state 
of  botanical  science."  We  are  scarcely,  perhaps, 
prepared  to  appreciate  fully  the  latter  part  of  this 
sentence ;  nor  can  we  yet  hope  to  see  hothouses  in 


which  may  be  reared  the  insect  gems  of  Brazil  or 
China,  before  whose  glories  the  brightest  flowers 
must  "  pale  their  ineffectual  fires."  But  I  am  still 
of  opinion,  that,  if  the  matter  were  taken  up  by  a 
few  energetic  minds,  we  might  yet  see  the  theory  of 
introduction  converted  into  a  reality,  as  there  is  no 
reason  whatever  why  the  many  beautiful  insects  of 
North  America  and  North  Europe  should  not  be 
established  in  our  islands.  At  any  rate,  it  is  no 
slight  encouragement  to  find  the  idea  supported  by 
so  mature  and  world-renowned  a  naturalist  as  Mr. 
P.  H.  Gosse  —  IF.  IF.  Spicer,  Potterne,  Wilts. 

Cocoon  of  a  hairy  Caterpillar.— I  imagine 
that  the  species  referred  to  by  Mr.  Murray  (p.  63), 
must  be  the  well-known  Tiger,  Arctia  caja.  If  so, 
there  is  no  question  that  the  hairs  are  purposely 
interwoven,  as  is,  doubtless,  also  the  case  with 
other  species  which  introduce  their  own  hairs  into 
the  cocoon.  Not  all  the  species  clothed  with  hairs 
render  them  thus  available,  but  those  doing  so,  are 
very  careful,  as  may  be  noticed,  so  to  commingle 
them  with  the  silk  as  to  render  the  abode  more 
secure,  and  also  the  extremities  of  the  hairs  are 
care.fullv  placed,  so  as  not  to  annoy  the  chrysalis. — 
J.  B.  S.  C. 

"Eye-stones." — This  name  has  been  applied,  as 
it  appears,  to  several  objects,  similar  in  appearance, 
differing  greatly  in  size  and  structure.  As  long 
back  as  1763,  Dr.  Brookes  described  eye-stones, 
which  he  puts  apart  from  mineral  objects,  showing 
eye-like  markings,  of  the  nature  of  agates  or  cor- 
nelians. Some  were  found,  he  says,  iu  a  quarry  at 
Shot-over  Hill,  which  were  oval  and  of  a  reddish 
colour,  containing  a  circle  of  white  and  a  pupil, 
having  rather  the  appearance  of  an  eye  darkened  by 
a  cataract.  The  size  of  these  objects  he  does  not 
state ;  it  is  probable  that  they  were  fossil  shells.  I 
think  that  though  some  concretions  found  in  the 
heads  of  crustaceans  may  present  this  curious 
resemblance  to  the  eye,  the  case  is  exceptional,  and 
Mr.  Izod  is  presumably  right  in  assuming  that  his 
eye-stones  are  shells. — J.  jR.  S.  C. 

The  Crab  and  its  Claws. — Every  one  must 
have  observed  that  crabs  have  often  one  claw  very 
much  smaller  than  the  rest,  and  doubtless  have  in- 
ferred that  the  crab  has  at  some  time  or  other 
lost  the  original  claw,  and  that  the  small  one  has 
grown  in  the  room  of  the  missing  member.  This 
inference  is  certainly  correct ;  but  I  fancy  that  very 
few  know  when  the  new  member  first_  makes  its  ap- 
pearance, but  suppose,  as  I  did,  that  it  began  as  an 
incipient  claw,  and  gradually  grew  with  its  posses- 
sor's growth.  From  the  following  circumstance,  I 
had  an  opportunity  of  knowing  when  a  new  claw 
first  makes  its  appearance.  One  of  my  crabs  (I 
believe  from  fighting,  for  they  are  very  pugnacious) 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  one  of  his  forcep  claws, 
and  thereby  became  greatly  disabled  from  either 
offence  or  defence.  In  this  mutilated  state  he  re- 
mained for  some  time,  taking,  however,  his  food  as 
if  nothing  was  the  matter,  but  looking  as  all  crabs 
must  look  that  have  lost  au  efficient  member.  By- 
and-by  the  time  came  when  he  must  cast  his  shell, 
and  when  he  had  accomplished  this  extraordinary 
feat,  instead  of  appearing  with  only  one  forcep  claw, 
he  could  now  boast  of  two — one  in  the  room  of 
the  one  he  had  lost.  It  certainly  was  considerably 
less  than  the  other,  but  still  it  was  not  an  embryo, 
but  a  good,  substantial,  well-formed  claw.— A.  L\ 
Murray. 


96 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


All  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  he 
addressed  to  the  Publisher.  All  contrihutions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  can  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer, not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term  ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  them.  We  do  not 
undertake  to  return  rejected  manuscripts  unless  sufficient 
stamps  are  enclosed  to  cover  the  return  postage.  Neither 
can  we  promise  to  refer  to  or  return  any  manuscript  after 
one  month  from  the  date  of  its  receipt.  All  microscopical 
drawings  intended  for  publication  should  have  annexed 
thereto  the  powers  employed,  or  the  extent  of  enlargement, 
indicated  in  diameters  (thus  :  x  320  diameters).  Communi- 
cations intended  for  publication  should  be  written  on  one 
side  of  the  paper  only,  and  all  scientific  names,  and  names  of 
places  and  individuals,  should  be  as  legible  as  possible. 
Wherever  scientific  names  or  technicalities  are  employed,  it 
is  hoped  that  the  common  names  will  accompany  them. 
Lists  or  tables  are  inadmissible  under  any  circumstances. 
Those  of  the  popular  names  of  British  plants  and  animals 
are  retained  and  registered  for  publication  when  suffi- 
ciently complete  for  that  purpose,  in  whatever  form  may 
then  be  decided  upon.  Address.  No.  192,  Piccadilly, 
London,  W. 


W.  L.  W.  E. — The  moss  is  Hypnum  rimilare.—  R.  B. 
W.  J. — Your  moss  is  Hypnum  riparium. — R,  B. 

J.  B. — Your  specimen  is  a  dwarf  form  of  Grimmia  patens. — 
R.B. 

H.  E.  W. — Ranunculus  repens,  the  commonest  British 
species.  We  do  not  undertake  to  name  specimens  which  the 
smallest  amount  of  attention  would  enable  any  one  to  deter- 
mine.—J.  B. 

E.  H. — We  have  not  read  the  work,  but  have  heard  it 
spoken  of  as  a  commendable  compilation. 

R.  Cooke,  Jun. — Your  notice  is  quite  out  of  order.  You 
should  have  secured  the  address  of  "  Microscope." 

T.  B. — A  small  specimen  of  Peziza  coccinea. 

W.  W.  S. — "The  Journal  of  a  Naturalist"  was  written  by 
Knapp,  and  published  by  Murray.  We  know  of  no  Botanical 
Exchange  Club  in  London.  The  Botanical  Society  of  Edin- 
burgh, we  believe,  exchanges  specimens, 

H.  B. — Oh  yes,  very  common. 

S.  M.  P.— Only  a  variety  of  Yitis  vinifera. — L. 

J.  C— Just  what  is  wanted.  We  do  not  know  of  one  that 
we  could  recommend. 

H.  S.— Only  Stainton's  "Tineina." 

S.  A.  H. — We  knew  a  "tabby  "and  a  white  cat  do  the  same 
thing;  therefore  the  argument  fails.  Pray\io  not  write  with 
such  wretched  ink  :  we  could  scarcely  decipher  your  com- 
munication. 

A.N. — Wonderful!  Did  you  never  discover  that  before?  We 
thought  it  was  known  to  every  school-boy. 

H.  M.-Wc  know  of  no  text-book  for  Polyzoa. 

R.  G.— The  specimens  are  Hypnum  pi/i/erum  and  Plagio- 
rhila  asplenioides. — R.  B. 

R-  V.  T. — No.  1.  Hypnum  serpens.  No.  2.  Squamaria  len- 
tigera.  This  Lichen  has  only  been  recorded  from  two  British 
stations,  both  south  of  Derbyshire.  Can  R.  V.  T.  send  more 
of  it?— R.  B. 


EXCHANGES. 
Notice.— Only  one  "Exchange"  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britam)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 


Hardy  Orchids  (established  in  pots)  offered  for  other 
species.— W.  H.  Beeby,  41,  North  End,  Croydon. 

Coleosporium  petasitis. —  For  this  micro-fungus  send 
stamped  envelope  to  J.  R.  Pocklington,  Woolcott  Park, 
Bristol. 

Wanted,  hairs  of  animals  and  insects  for  other  material. 
Send  lists  to  J.  Needam,  Jun.,  2",  Approach  Road,  Victoria 
Park. 

Cardium  Norvegicum,  Tapes  iiurea,<M&  Tapes  pulltistru , 
for  shells  of  North  or  East  Coast  of  England.— Miss  Colson, 
Swanages,  Dorset. 

Slides  of  Synaptce  inhcerens,  polariscopic,  and  section  of 
spine  of  Echinus  lividus,  for  other  good  objects,  Echinoder- 
mata  preferred. —  W.  Swanston,  7,  College  Square  East, 
Belfast. 

Fine  specimens  of  Aehatina  zebra,  and  other  foreign  land 
and  fresh-water  shells,  for  foreign  ditto.— G.  S.  T.,  58,  Villa 
Road,  Handsworth,  Staffordshire. 

For  cuticles  of  Fern  and  Hyacinth  (unmounted)  send 
stamped  address  and  object  to  C.  H.,  3",  Devonshire  Mews 
West,  Portland  Place,  W. 

For  fossil  Sharks'  teeth  (for  cutting  sections,  &c.)  send 
stamped  addressed  envelope,  and  any  object  of  microscopical 
interest,  to  \V.  A.  G.,  Parkshot,  Richmond,  Surrey. 

Elephant's  Tooth,  pieces  for  sections  will  be  sent  |on 
receipt  of  a  slide  of  diatoms. — J.  D.  R.,  93,  Albion  Road, 
Dalston,  E. 

Xenodochus  Carbonarius  wanted  in  exchange  for 
mounted  section  of  cuttle-bone,  ferns  or  vegetable  cuticles  at 
option  of  sender. —  H.  P.,  12,  Margaret  Street,  Hull. 

Spicules  of  Gorgonia aneeps and  others  (named)  for  others, 
sponges  preferred.— W.  Freeman,  160,  Maxey  Road,  Plum- 
stead. 

Would  any  one  care  to  have  bits  of  mosaic  and  marbles, 
from  various  ruins  in  Rome?  -Write  immediately  (inclosing 
stamp  for  Italy)  to  Mrs.  K.  T.  G.,  care  of  the  Editor. 

Micro-funoi. — Various  species  (mounted  in  gum  danraar) 
offered  for  other  good  slides.  Send  list  to  E.  Ward,  38,  Brad- 
ford Street,  Coventry. 

Toome  Bridge  earth,  or  sections  of  Echinus  spines  (un- 
mounted) for  mounted  polariscope  objects. — Robert  T.  An- 
drews, Castle  Street,  Hertford,  Herts. 

Barbadoes  earth  and  Tripoli  earth  wanted.  What  will  be 
taken  in  exchange,  or  what  is  the  price?— W.  L.  Nash,  Stroud, 
Gloucestershire. 

Horse  Hoof. — Trans,  and  long,  (handsome  polarizers)  for 
other  objects,  polarizing  preferred.— C.  D.,  187,  Oxtord  Street, 
Mile  End,  E. 

I  will  give  24  slides  of  various  and  authentic  species  of 
Diatomacese,  for  the  same  number  of  insect,  botanical,  or 
polariscope  preparations. — B.  Taylor,  Hon.  Sec.  Whitehaven 
Scientific  As. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"  The  Journal  of  Applied  Science,"  for  March. 

"  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,"  for  March. 

"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  266,  267. 

"Winchester  and  Hampshire  Scientific  and  Literary  Society's 
Annual  Report  for  1870." 

"Chemical  News."    No.  588.     March  3,  1871. 

"  The  Canadian  Entomologist."     Sept.  and  Oct. 

"The  American  Naturalist."     February,  1871. 

"The  Gardener's  Magazine."     March,  187 1. 

"The  Animal  World."    March,  1871. 

"Notes  on  Chalcidiae."  By  Francis  Walker.  London: 
E.  W.  Janson. 

"The  Colliery  Guardian."     No.  532.    March  10,  1871. 

"Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."    March,  1871. 


Communications  Received. — T.  B.— II.  E.  W. — E.  R.  F. 
— R.  E.— A.  C.  C.-E.  H.— T.  C.  I.— C.  P.— J.  B.— A.  E.— 
J.  S.  T.— W.  H.  C.-A.A.,  Jun.— R.C.— H.  P.— R.  T.,il/.^.— 
J.  K.— J.  R.  P.— W.  H.  B.— G.  H.  S.— J.  S.  T.— T.  C.  I.— 
E.  B.  F— J.  R.  S.  C— W.  W.  S.— W.  F.— C.  H.— H.  P.— A.  H. 
—J.  D.  R.— W.  A.  G—  W.  H.  M.— H.  S.— A.  N.— E.  J.  C— 
G.  S.  T.— F.  T.— R.  V.  T.— W.  S.— C.  G.  M.— J.  E.  R.— 
S.  A.  H.— C.  J.  W.  R.— H.  E.  W.— Miss  C— T.  B.-S.  R.— 
C.  V.— J.  C.-W.  A.  G.-R.  G.—  F.  G.  B.— G.  H.  H.— 
W.  H.  C— J.  C— J.  N.— H.  F.  P.— H.  B— S.  M.  P.— H.  G.— 
B.  T.— R.  T.  A.— E.  W.— J.  F.— G.  R.— C.  J.  D.— E.  S  — 
J.  E.  M.-C.  V.— W.  L.  N.— K.  T.  G. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


97 


FLEAS,  FLEAS! 


"  Dear  miss,  don't  you  like  fleas  !    Well,  I  think  they  are  the  prettiest  little  merry  things  in  the  world, 
dull  flea  in  all  my  life."—  Kirby  and  Spence. 


1  never  saw  a 


IVELY!    yes, 
they  are  lively 
creatures,     are 
those  fleas,  and 
if  the  month  of 
March  does  not 
bring  us  spring, 
it     brings     us 
"  springers  "  in 
was  not  a  bad 
.  Domingo,  who, 
when  the  arch-tormentor  of 
men  and  saints  appeared  to 
him  in  the  form  of  a  flea,  and 
skipped  upon  his  book,  to  fix 
him  there  as  a  mark  where 
he  left  off,  and  continue  to 
use  him  so  throughout   the 
volume.    Would  that  all  fleas 
could  be  induced  to  follow 
such  an  example,  and  meet 
with  such  a  reward. 
Are  fleas  degenerated  flies, 
who  have  lost  their  wings  and  taken  to  their  legs  ? 
It  is  the  opinion  of  entomologists,  at  least  some 
of  them,  that  fleas  are  very  nearly  related  to  the 
Diptera;  but  as  for  degeneration,  or  progression, 
upwards  or  downwards,  in  this  developmental  age, 
we  are  at  times  almost  staggered,  not  only  at  fleas, 
but  something  higher  in  the  scale  of  creation  than 
these,  that  were  once,  if  dreams  become  true,  even 
lower  than  fleas  in  the  circle  of  life.    Men,  flies, 
fleas,  Bathybius,  through  myriads  of  ages  strug- 
gling upwards.    By  the  same  token  may  they  not 
slide  back,  man,  monkey,  mouse,  mollusc,  to  the 
monad  again  ? 

Whence  came  the  fleas  ?  Or,  using  the  language 
of  the  evolutionists,  through  what  chain  of  being 
can  we  trace  the  flea  to  its  origin,  until  we  find  its 
primogenitors  stopping  a  bunghole  ?  Some  trace 
the  descent  of  fleas  from  a  remote  and  very  un-  | 
No.  77. 


savoury  origin,  but  we  will  rest  content  with  a  more 
romantic  legend. 

Amongst  the  Kurds  a  tradition  is  preserved  that 
when  Noah's  ark  sprang  a  leak  by  striking  against 
a  rock  in  the  vicinity  of  Mount  Sindshar,  and  Noah 
despaired  altogether  of  safety,  the  serpent  promised 
to  help  him  out  of  his  mishap  if  he  would  engage 
to  feed  him  upon  human  flesh  after  the  deluge  had 
subsided.  Noah  pledged  himself  to  do  so,  and  the 
serpent  coiling  himself  up,  drove  his  body  into  the 
fracture,  and  stopped  the  leak.  When  the  pluvious 
element  was  appeased,  and  all  were  making  their 
way  out  of  the  ark,  the  serpent  insisted  upon  the 
fulfilment  of  the  pledge  he  had  received ;  but  Noah, 
by  Gabriel's  advice,  committed  the  pledge  to  the 
flames,  and  scattering  its  ashes  in  the  air,  there 
arose  out  of  them  fleas,  flies,  lice,  bugs,  and  all  such 
sort  of  vermin  as  prey  upon  human  blood,  and  after 
this  fashion  was  Noah's  pledge  redeemed. 

So  much  for  the  tradition  of  the  Kurds  ;  but  lest 
it  should  be  supposed  that  this  is  the  only  fragment 
we  possess  of  the  prehistoric  times  of  fleas,  we  will 
furnish  another  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  accord- 
ing to  which,  "Many  years  ago,  a  woman  from 
Waimea  went  out  to  a  ship  to  see  her  lover,  and  as 
she  was  about  to  return,  he  gave  her  a  bottle,  say- 
ing that  there  was  very  little  valuable  property  con- 
tained in  it,  but  that  she  must  not  open  it,  on  any 
account,  until  she  reached  the  shore.  As  soon  as 
she  gained  the  beach,  she  eagerly  uncorked  the 
bottle  to  examine  her  treasure,  but  nothing  was  to 
be  discovered, — the  fleas  hopped  out,  and  they  have 
gone  on  hopping  and  biting  ever  since." 

This  will  perhaps  be  sufficient  to  prove  that  even 
fleas  have  an  early  history,  extending  backwards 
into  rather  dark  ages.  These  pigmy  tormentors  are 
better  known  than  respected,  all  the  world  over, 
and  in  the  East  especially  hold  terrible  power  over 
the  repose  of  the  inhabitants.  It  is  said  that  the 
king  of  fleas  holds  his  court  at  Tiberias,  and  cer- 
tainly Levantine  habitations  are  their  delight. 


98 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


A  principal  city  in  Ionia  was  once  abandoned  on 
account  of  the  fleas.  In  Purchas's  "  Pilgrims  "  we 
read  that  the  Jews  were  not  permitted  to  burn  fleas 
iu  the  flame  of  their  lamps  on  the  Sabbath.  It  is 
therefore  probable  that  they  did  so  to  a  considerable 
extent  on  the  other  six  days  of  the  week.  On  one 
occasion,  Iwan  Vasilowich  sent  to  the  city  of 
Moscow  to  provide  for  him  a  measure  full  of  fleas 
for  a  medicine.  The  inhabitants  answered  that  it 
was  impossible,  and  if  they  could  get  them,  yet  they 
could  not  measure  them  because  of  their  leaping 
out.  Upon  this  the  city  was  mulcted  of  seven 
thousand  roubles,— an  early  example  of  "  requisi- 
tions." 

Performing  fleas  have  also  had  their  history 
written,  for  Mr.  Frank  Buckland,  in  the  third  series 
of  his  amusing  "  Curiosities  of  Natural  History," 
devotes  a  chapter  to  the  subject.  Both  before  and 
since  chroniclers  have  been  found  for  the  marvels 
of  flea-life.  Purchas  states  that  an  Egyptian  artisan 
received  a  garment  of  cloth  of  gold  for  binding  a 
flea  in  a  chain.  Time  and  space  forbid  our  entering 
upon  the  details  of  fleas  in  harness. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that,  however  clever  fleas 
may  be,  they  are  at  best  sorry  companions,  and 
therefore  willing  ears  will  be  turned  towards  him 
who  will  declare  methods  for  their  sure  and  certain 
expatriation.  Before  attempting  this  we  will  call 
to  the  remembrance  of  our  readers  poor  Humphrey's 
pleasantry  on  this  point.  "  A  notable  projector 
became  notable  by  one  project  only,  which  was  a 
certain  specific  for  the  killing  of  fleas,  and  it  was  in 
form  of  a  powder,  and  sold  in  papers,  with  plain 
directions  for  use,  as  followeth  :  the  flea  was  to  be 
held  conveniently  between  the  thumb  and  finger  of 
the  left  hand,  and  to  the  end  of  the  trunk  or  pro- 
boscis, which  protrudeth  in  the  flea,  somewhat  as 
the  elephant's  doth,  a  very  small  quantity  of  the 
powder  was  to  be  put  from  between  the  thumb  and 
finger  of  the  right  hand.  And  the  deviser  under- 
took, if  any  flea  to  whom  his  powder  was  so  ad- 
ministered should  prove  to  have  afterwards  bitten 
a  purchaser  who  used  it,  then  that  purchaser  should 
have  another  paper  of  the  said  powder  gratis.  And 
it  chanced  that  the  first  paper  thereof  was  bought 
idly,  as  it  were,  by  an  old  woman ;  and  she,  without 
meaning  to  injure  the  inventor  or  his  remedy,  but 
of  her  mere  harmlessness,  did  innocently  ask  him 
whether,  when  she  had  caught  the  flea,  and  after 
she  had  got  it,  as  before  described,  if  she  should 
kill  it  with  her  nail  it  would  not  be  as  well.  Where- 
upon the  ingenious  inventor  was  so  astonished  by 
the  question,  that,  not  knowing  what  to  answer  on 
the  sudden  occasion,  he  said  with  truth  to  this 
effect,  that  without  doubt  her  way  would  do  too." 
And  according  to  the  belief  of  poor  Humphrey,  there 
is  not  yet  any  device  more  certain  or  better  for  de- 
stroying a  flea,  when  thou  hast  captured  him,  than 
the  ancient  manner  of  the  old  woman's,  or  instead 


thereof,  the  drowning  of  him  in  fair  water,  if  thou 
hast  it  by  thee  at  the  time. 

Even  as  long  ago  as  the  time  of  Pliny  fleas  were 
but  too  plentiful,  and  men  sought  anxiously  for 
charms  and  remedies  to  abate  their  annoyance.  One 
of  these  is  given  by  Pliny  to  the  following  effect. 
"  If  a  man,  the  first  time  that  he  heareth  the  cuckoo, 
presently  stay  his  right  foot  in  the  very  place  where 
it  was  when  he  heard  her,  and  withal  mark  out  the 
point  and  just  proportion  of  the  said  foot  upon  the 
ground  as  it  stood,  and  then  dig  up  the  earth  under 
it  within  the  said  compass,  look  what  chamber  or 
room  of  the  house  is  strewed  with  the  said  mould, 
there  will  no  fleas  breed  there."  There  is  some  con- 
solation even  in  the  hope  of  such  a  remedy  proving 
effectual,  notwithstanding  that  it  is  contingent  upon 
the  note  of  the  cuckoo.  A  more  amusing  mode  is 
that  attributed  to  a  sporting  Queen  of  Sweden,  for 
in  the  arsenal  at  Stockholm  is  exhibited  a  miniature 
piece  of  ordnance  four  or  five  inches  in  length,  with 
which,  report  says,  on  the  authority  of  Linnaeus, 
that  Queen  Christiana  used  to  cannonade  fleas. 

Various  plants,  under  the  name  of  "  Fleabane," 
have  obtained  a  reputation  for  the  destruction  of 
fleas.  One  of  these  is  alluded  to  by  old  Tusser  iu 
the  following  lines : — 

"  While  wormwood  hath  seed,  get  a  handfull  or  twaine, 
To  save  against  March,  to  make  flea  to  refraine  : 
Where  chambere  is  sweeped,  and  wormwood  is  strown, 
No  flea  for  his  life  dare  abide  to  be  known." 

In  Dalecarlia  the  inhabitants  place  the  skins  of 
hares  in  their  apartments,  in  which  the  fleas  take 
refuge,  so  that  they  are  easily  destroyed  by  the  im- 
mersion of  the  skin  in  scalding  water.  Recently 
Mr.  B.  T.  Lowne  has  recommended  a  little  chlo- 
roform to  be  placed  on  sponge  or  cotton  wool  and 
laid  in  the  bed  where  fleas  delight  to  congregate, 
inasmuch  as  it  appears  to  be  a  medicament  for 
which  they  are  by  no  means  partial. 

We  have  written  very  little  indeed,  as  yet,  of  the 
scientific  history  of  the  flea ;  nor  is  it  our  intention 
to  dilate  upon  that  phase  of  the  subject.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  Quekett  Microscopical  Club  in 
February  last,  a  very  interesting  paper  was  read  by 
Mr.  Furlonge  on  some  points  in  the  anatomy  of  the 
common  bed-flea  (Pule.v  irritans)  which  provoked  a 
rather  animated  discussion.  For  that  kind  of  in- 
formation we  must  refer  to  the  paper  itself  when 
published  in  the  journal  of  the  Club.  Some  persons 
suppose  that  there  is  but  one  kind  or  species  of  flea, 
found  on  man  and  all  the  inferior  animals,  whereas 
there  are  numerous  species,  and  of  these  we  shall 
enumerate  a  few. 

First,  and  foremost,  there  is  the  Human  Flea 
{Pules  irritans),  which  annoys  sensitive  humanity, 
and  is  much  better  known  than  respected.  It  is 
principally  of  these  that  Mouffet  writes  in  his 
"Theatre  of  Insects,"  when  he  says,  "The  lesser, 
leaner,  and  younger  they  are  the  sharper  they  bite, 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


99 


the  fat  ones  being  more  inclined  to  tickle  and  play  ; 
and  these  are  not  the  least  plague,  especially  when 
in  greater  numbers,  since  they  molest  men  that  are 
sleeping,  and  trouble  wearied  and  sick  persons,  from 
whom  they  escape  by  skipping ;  for  as  soon  as  they 
find  they  are  arraigned  to  die,  and  feel  the  finger 
coming,  on  a  sudden  they  are  gone,  and  leap  here 
and  there,  and  so  escape  the  danger ;  but  so  soon  as 
day  breaks  they  forsake  the  bed.  They  then  creep 
into  the  rough  blankets  or  hide  themselves  in  rushes 
and  dust,  lying  in  ambush  for  pigeons,  hens,  and 
other  birds  ;  also  for  men  and  dogs,  moles  and  mice, 
and  vex  such  as  pass  by." 

There  is  some  speculation,  without  truth,  in  the 
latter  part  of  this  paragraph;  for  the  flea  that  annoys 
mankind  is  quite  distinct  from  the  bird  flea,  those 
of  cats  and  dogs,  moles  and  mice,  and  others. 
Whether  true  or  false  we  cannot  say,  but  it  has 
been  affirmed  that  asses  are  never  troubled  with 
fleas,  and  that  it  is  consequent  upon  our  Saviour 
riding  upon  one  of  these  animals. 

The  Cat  Elea  {Pulex  felis)  has  already  been 
noticed  by  Mr.  Mclntire  in  an  early  volume  of  this 
journal. 


Fig.  56.  Dog  Flea  [Pulex  cants),  male. 

The  Dog  Flea  {Pulex  canis)  is  also  different  from 
both.  Whether  it  is  the  same  that  occurs  on  the 
fox,  we  are  unable  to  say.  Mouffet  alludes  to  this 
last  in  the  following  manner :— "  The  fox  gathers 
some  handfuls  of  wool  from  thorns  and  hedges,  and 
wrapping  it  up,  he  holds  it  fast  in  his  mouth,  then 
goes  by  degrees  into  a  cold  river,  and  dipping  him- 
self close  by  little  and  little,  when  he  finds  that  all 
the  fleas  are  crept  so  high  as  his  head  for  fear  of 
drowning,  and  so  for  shelter  crept  into  the  wool, 
he  barks  and  spits  out  the  wool  full  of  fleas,  and  so 
very  froliquely  being  delivered  from  their  molesta- 
tions, he  swims  to  land."  We  have  always  been 
ready  to  accord  to  the  fox  a  considerable  amount  of 


cunning,  but  not  quite  so  much  as  our  author  is 
inclined  to  do. 

The  little  Mole  Flea  {Pulex  talpce)  is  an  interesting 
and  not  at  all  uncommon  species.  Some  say  that  it 
is  blind,  and  so  it  was  stated  of  the  mole,  until  the 
contrary  was  proved. 


Fig.  57.  Mole  Flea  {Pulex  talpce),  male. 

Three  species  of  flea  are  found  on  bats.  One  is 
called  Pulex  elongata,  another  the  Three-banded 
Flea  {Pulex  trifasciatus),  and  the  third  is  Pulex 
respertiliouis.  For  further  particulars  of  these  we 
must  refer  our  readers  to  Curtis's  "  British  Ento- 
mology." 


Fig.  5S.  Bat  Flea  {Pulex  vespertilionis),  male. 

The  Squirrel  Flea  {Pulex  sciurorum)  is  not  un- 
common in  this  country;  but  whether  the  Pulex 
mortis  has  been  found  on  the  weasel  or  stoat/.we 
cannot  say. 

The  rat  has  two  kinds  of  fleas,  that  is,  the  banded 
Eat  Flea  {Pulex  fasciatus),  aud  the  common;Rat 

F  2 


100 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GO  S  S  IP. 


Flea  (Pulex  muris).     A  pretty  little  flea  {Pulex 
musculi)  is  found  on  the  mouse. 


Fig.  59.  Squirrel  Flea  {Pulex  sciurorum),  male. 

Besides  these  there  are  the  Hedgehog  Flea  (Pulex 
erinacei)  and  the  flea  of  the  hare  {Pulex  leporis). 
There  may  be  others  found  on  our  native  mammals; 
but  these,  at  least,  seem  to  be  good  and  distinct 
species. 

In  addition  we  may  mention  those  found  upon 
birds.  The  Bird  Flea  is  occasionally  spoken  of  as 
though  there  were  but  one,  nevertheless  the  Swal- 


Fig.  60.  Bird  Flea,  male. 

low  Flea  {Pulex  Mrundinis),  the  Martin  Flea  {Pulex 
bifasciatus),  the  Starling  Flea  (Pulex  sturni),  the 
Pigeon  Flea  (Pulex  cohimbee),  and  the  flea  of  the 
barn-door  fowl  (Pulex  gaUhue),  are  all  regarded  as 
good  species. 


This  enumeration,  barren  as  it  is,  may  be  of  ser- 
vice as  indicating  the  known  species  found  in  these 
islands,  and  may  lead  some  of  our  readers  to  look 
out  for  fleas  on  domestic  and  wild  animals  with  the 
assurance  that  they  are  not  all  alike. 

There  is  one  other  flea,  fortunately  not  a  British 
species,  which  we  have  designedly  left  to  the  last. 
This  is  the  Chigoe  or  Jigger  (Pulex  penetrans)  of 
South  America  and  the  West  Indies.  According 
to  Stedman,  this  is  a  kind  of  small  sand-flea,  which 
gets  in  between  the  skin  and  flesh  without  being 
felt,  and  generally  under  the  nails  of  the  toes,  where, 
while  it  feeds,  it  keeps  growing  till  it  becomes  of 
the  size  of  a  pea,  causing  no  further  pain  than  a 
disagreeable  itching.  In  process  of  time,  its  opera- 
tion appears  in  the  form  of  a  small  bladder,  in 
which  are  deposited  thousands  of  eggs  or  nits,  and 
which,  if  it  breaks,  produce  so  many  young  chigoes, 
which,  in  course  of  time,  create  running  ulcers, 
often  of  very  dangerous  consequence  to  the  patient. 
Southey  says  that  many  of  the  first  settlers  in  Bra- 
zil, before  they  knew  how  to  extract  the  chigoes, 
lost  their  feet  in  the  most  dreadful  manner. 


Fig.  61.  Chigoe  {Pulex  penetrans). 

Burton,  in  his  "  Highlands  of  the  Brazils,"  fur- 
nishes us  with  something  more  concerning  them. 
"The  jigger,  seen  under  the  microscope,  has  the 
appearance  of  a  small  flea  with  well-developed 
body,  and  of  somewhat  lighter  colour.  It  crawls 
more  quickly,  but  does  not  jump  so  well  as  the 
ordinary  pulex.  The  popular  belief  is  that  the 
male  is  never  found.  It  burrows  under  the  nails  of 
the  hands  and  feet,  especially  the  latter;  I  have 
extracted  as  many  as  six  in  one  day,  but  never  from 
the  fingers.  The  sole  is  also  a  favourite  place ;  in 
fact,  the  insect  colonizes  wherever  the  skin  is 
thick :  hence  its  preference  for  negroes.  Its  pro- 
per habitat  is  between  the  cuticle  and  the  flesh, 
into  which  it  does  not  penetrate ;  and  where  there 
is  not  lodging  room,  it  falls  off  after  drawing  blood. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  IEN  CE-GOS  SI  P. 


101 


Having  ensconced  itself  bodily,  the  jigger  proceeds 
to  increase  and  multiply ;  the  small  dark  point 
develops  to  the  size  of  a  pea,  and  can  move  no 
more.  The  light-coloured  bag  is  enormously  dis- 
tended with  eggs  of  a  slight  yellow  tint,  and  after 
producing  her  fine  family,  the  parent  departs  this 
life. 

"The  small  livid  point,  which  appears  about  the 
nails,  is  generally  accompanied  by  a  certain  amount 
of  titillation,  which  old  stagers  enjoy;  they  describe 
it  as  sui  generis,  and  make  it  almost  deserve  the 
name  of  a  new  pleasure.  Men  with  tender  skins 
easily  feel  the  bite,  and  remove  the  biter  before  it 
can  penetrate.  They  then  send  for  a  negro,  always 
the  best  practitioner,  and  he  proceeds  to  extract 
the  intruder  with  a  pin,  in  preference  to  a  needle. 
Should  the  sac  be  burst,  and  the  fragments  not  be 
all  extracted,  the  place  festers,  and  a  bad  sore  is  the 
result.  Some  sufferers  have  had  to  wear  slippers, 
and  have  walked  lame  for  weeks.  The  wound  is 
finally  cicatrized  with  some  light  alkali, — even  snuff 
and  cigar  ashes  are  used,  and  a  little  arnica  com- 
pletes the  cure." 

And  now,  for  the  present,  we  take  our  leave  of 
the  fleas.  A  little  running  gossip  on  some  of  the 
romance  of  the  subject  may  serve  to  put  us  in 
better  humour  for  such  of  the  realities  as  it  may  be 
our  fortune  to  experience.  It  by  no  means  follows 
that  we  are  disposed  to  accept  all  the  romance  as 
fact,  but  it  will  not  be  difficult  for  each  to  eliminate 
for  himself  the  real  from  the  ideal.  Since  the 
attention  of  microscopists  is  likely  to  be  directed 
more  than  hitherto  to  these  lively  little  creatures, 
such  an  episode  as  the  present  will  not  be  alto- 
gether out  of  place.  Mr.  Furlonge's  paper,  and 
Mr.  Lowne's  animadversions,  are  enough  to  con- 
vince us  that  there  is  somewhat  more  to  be  learnt 
about  such  a  common  object  as  a  Elea. 


A  RAMBLE  BY  THE  SEA-SHORE. 

"  Ocean  of  wonders!  could  I  pierce  thy  depths, 
And  dive  into  thy  dark  and  azure  breast, 
Below,  below,  far,  far,  and  far  below, 
Amid  shells,  seaweed,  and  cerulean  gleams, 
What  sights  should  I  behold  ! " 

~DUT  "A  Ramble  by  the  Sea-shore"  is  the 
-"-*  subject  given,  and  not  a  dive  beneath  its 
green  billows,  into  Ocean's  richly-jewelled  caverns  ; 
therefore  I  must  confine  myself  to  a  description  of 
some  of  the  varied  objects  of  interest  which  are  to 
be  met  with  along  the  coast,  and  commence  with  the 
lowest  order  of  all  bearing  an  appearance  of  animal 
life,  gradually  proceeding  to  furnish,  as  well  as  the 
limits  of  this  article  will  permit  me  to  do  so,  an 
account  of  a  few  of  the  higher  forms,  found  on  the 
beach  between  high  and  low-water  mark. 

The  very  lowest  grade  of  animal  life,  Protozoa, 
are  so  closely  allied  to  the  vegetable,  that  it  be- 


comes a  difficult  point  in  some  cases  to  decide 
to  which  kingdom  the  object  belongs.  The  com- 
mon sponge  is  a  member  of  the  Protozoa  family,  and 
although  the  sponge  of  commerce  comes  from  the 
rocks  of  the  Mediterranean,  there  are  some  sixty 
odd  distinct  species  met  with  in  the  streams  and  on 
the  shores  of  our  native  land.  Witness  the  yellow 
fungus-like  substances  we  find  on  the  rocks  which 
are  left  bare  by  the  receding  tide,  such  as  the 
"Crumb  of  Bread"  Sponge,  and  others. 

Should  these  "  cradles  of  organic  life "  have 
escaped  the  attention  of  the  ordinary  rambler  by 
the  sea-shore,  the  sponge  we  are  in  the  habit  of 
using  must  be  familiar  to  all,  though  all  may  not 
know  that  the  nice  soft  article  they  wash  with  is 
the  skeleton  of  what  was  once  a  real  living 
creature. 

Living  sponges  possess  the  power  of  continuous 
action.  Take  a  live  specimen,  and  watch  it  care- 
fully, and  you  will  very  soon  see  that  a  constant 
current  of  water  flows  at  the  will  of  the  animal 
through  its  ducts.  It  has  two  sets  of  ducts,  or 
canals ;  one  for  receiving  the  fluid  into  its  interior, 
the  other  for  discharging  it;  thus  affording  evi- 
dence of  a  most  perfect  system  of  circulation,  and 
so  demonstrating  the  presence  of  a  vital  principle. 

Many  people  will  argue  that  a  sponge  does  not 
evince  the  power  of  sensation.  Tear  it  open,  burn 
it  with  red-hot  irons,  and  it  will  not,  I  grant  you, 
show  a  trace  of  feeling;  nevertheless,  the  smell  of 
ammonia  given  out  by  burnt  sponge  betrays  its 
animal  nature. 

The  curious  way  in  which  sponges  reproduce  their 
young  is  remarkable.  You  will  see,  at  certain  sea- 
sons of  the  year,  small  yellow  granules  fixed  in  the 
ducts  of  the  sponge,  as  these  grow  larger  they  get 
freed  from  their  slimy  bed,  and  are  directly  carried 
off  by  the  flowing  current  of  water,  each  young 
sponge  being  provided  with  a  set  of  thread-like 
appendages,  which  are  wisely  intended  to  serve  a 
double  purpose.  They  act  in  the  first  place  as  oars, 
by  means  of  which  the  small  fry  move  about  until 
they  meet  with  a  suitable  resting-place,  and  then 
they  make  good  anchors. 

Immediately  the  juvenile  sponge  finds  a  desirable 
rock,  it  fastens  itself  on  to  it  by  means  of  these 
threads,  and  an  adhesive  substance  which  it  throws 
out,  and  then,  having  no  further  use  for  its  cilia, 
quietly  absorbs  them  ;  for  the  sponge,  unlike  most 
seaside  visitors,  never  changes  its  lodgings.  It 
stops  in  the  place  it  first  selects,  and  quickly 
establishes  a  home  of  its  own. 

We  should  not  fail  to  notice  how,  in  the  struc- 
ture and  history  of  so  insignificant  an  atom  as  the 
sponge,  our  all-wise  Creator  has  displayed  his  pro- 
vidential care  by  gifting  such  helpless  little  animals 
with  the  power  of  locomotion  at  the  exact  time 
they  need  it ;  a  power  cut  off  from  the  adult  sponge 
as  soon  as  its  aid  is  no  longer  required. 


102 


KARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


From  sponges  we  come  to  sea-flowers — "  Sea 
Anemones,"  as  they  are  generally  called.  They 
belong  to  the  next  order  in  the  ascending  scale — 
the  Radiata,  and  some  of  them  are  exceedingly 
beautiful. 

A  great  many'of  these  sensitive  plants  of  the  sea- 
shore must  be  perfectly  familiar  to  the  majority  of 
seaside  visitors;  in  fact,  now,  aquariums  having 
become  so  very  general,  and  artificial  sea-water  so 
easy  (thanks  to  chemistry)  of  production,  there  are 
but  few  of  the  inhabitants  of  our  inland  towns 
who  do  not  know  such  Zoophytes  as  the  Actinia 
coriacea  (Sea-nettle)  and  the  Bunodes  crassicornis, 
or  "  Thick-horned  Anemone,"  perfectly  well. 

Several  kinds  are  to  be  met  with  on  the  rocks 
along  the  coast :  the  island  of  Anglesea  is  rich  in 
lovely  specimens,  whose  brilliant  colours  are  as 
varied  as  their  forms.  Others  affect  deep  pools, 
shaded  by  rocky  ledges,  or  protected  by  fringes  of 
seaweed ;  and  although  they  always  fix  themselves 
in  the  shade,  they  like  a  spot  where,  by  extending 
their  tentacles,  or  feelers,  they  can  obtain  a  ray  of 
sunshine.  Their  brightest  hues  are  exhibited  to 
the  god  of  day.  Notice  a  Sea-anemone  kept  in  a 
glass  aquarium ;  if  the  day  be  dull,  there  will  only 
be  a  soft  little  lump  of  coloured  jelly  visible ;  but 
directly  the  sun  puts  in  an  appearance,  you  will 
find  an  expanded  disk,  presenting  a  perfect  resem- 
blance of  a  living  flower,  such  as  a  Marigold  or 
China  Aster,  in  your  globe.! 

The  casual  observer  wandering  on  the  sea-shore 
would,  probably,  consider  these  Zoophytes  very 
uninteresting  animals ;  but  they  evince  a  good  deal 
of  instinct,  when  self-preservation  is  the  object  they 
have  in  view.  One  sort  gives  out,  when  touched,  a 
most  offensive  odour;  another,  when  located  on 
rocks,  or  stones  close  to  the  shore,  covers  itself 
with  shells  and  gravel,  iu  order  to  avoid  detection 
— more  instances  of  God's  protecting  care  for  the 
meanest  of  his  creatures. 

Having  kept  all  kinds  of  Sea-anemones  for  years, 
I  have  had  considerable  opportunity  of  studying 
their  habits.  They  have  but  very  slow  powers  of 
locomotion,  and  very  good  digestion.  Their  vora- 
city is  wonderful.  A  Crass,  I  now  have,  swallowed 
a  large  crab,  quite  as  big  as  himself,  the  day  after 
1  placed  him  in  his  glass-house ;  sucked  all  the 
meat,  and  then  disgorged  the  shell.  They  make 
no  difficulty  whatever  of  taking  a  sea-urchin,  spines 
and  all,  for  breakfast,  and  were  it  not  for  a  certain 
power  of  attraction  in  their  long  feelers,  they  would 
often,  as  they  are  so  slow  of  motion,  be  on  "  short 
commons " ;  but  these  tentacles  of  theirs  seize  all 
the  small  molluscs  that  come  in  their  way,  then  curl 
over,  and  convey  the  dainty  morsel  to  the  Anemone's 
mouth,  an  orifice  iu  the  centre  of  the  disk,  to  be 
ejected  by  the  same  aperture  directly  all  the  good 
has  been  extracted. 

There  are  Sea-carnations  and  Sea-daisies  to  be 


found  on  our  coast,  also  a  variety  which,  evidently 
being  fond  of  wandering,  fixes  itself  on  the  shell  of 
a  crab,  and  thus  gets  carried  about  to  see  the  world. 
It  is  known  as  the  Parasite  Anemone. 

Corallines  should  come  next.  Crabbe  wrote  of 
this  tribe, — 

"  Involved  in  sea-wrack  here  you  find  a  race 
Which  science  doubting,  knows  not  where  to  place." 

Science,  however,  has,  since  the  time  of  the 
poet,  discovered  its  rightful  position,  and  we  have 
but  to  look  at  the  coral  of  the  tropical  seas,  and  the 
vast  reefs  of  Australia,  to  understand  how  great  a 
part  these  same  coral  tribes  have  played,  since 
creation  began,  in  the  formation  of  different  conti- 
nents. Still  as  there  are  but  very  few  species  of 
Corallines  in  the  British  seas,  I  shall  pass  over 
to  the  next  order  of  Radiated  polypes,  some  of 
which  the  rambler  by  the  sea-shore  is  sure  of 
meeting  with  on  our  native  coast.  I  allude  to 
Jelly-fish ;  and  fortunate  it  is  for  us  that  the  more 
stinging  species,  the  Medusa,  are  not  very  common 
here,  since  they  have  the  power  of  inflicting  great 
pain  on  any  miserable  individual  who  comes  within 
reach  of  their  trailing,  riband-like  arms. 

One  strange  fact  connected  with  the  Jelly-fish  is, 
that  it  has  the  power  of  breaking  off  its  arms  at 
will ;  so,  directly  that  a  bather  gets  entangled  in  the 
coils  of  this  Sea-nettle,  the  angry  fish  dismembers 
itself,  leaving  its  tendrils  clinging  to  the  writhing 
mortal,  who,  struggle  as  he  may,  still  suffers,  since 
the  severed  members  possess  the  power  of  inflicting 
acute  pain. 

Few,  who  merely  see  these  far  from  agreeable- 
looking  lumps  of  gelatine,  called  Sea-blubbers, 
which  are  cast  up  by  the  waves  on  the  beach,  could 
possibly  imagine  the  beauty  of  form  and  brilHant 
colouring  displayed  by  some  of  the  species,  when 
carefully  examined  in  their  native  element.  Many 
of  them  are  likewise  capable  of  emitting  a  bright 
phosphorescent  light  by  night,  which  is  quite  as 
beautiful,  in  its  way,  as  the  varied  iridescence 
exhibited  by  them  when  the  sun  shines. 

Those  pretty  little  members  of  the  class  Echino- 
dermata  (Sea-hedgehogs)  and  Starfish  are  among 
the  most  "  common  objects "  of  our  sea-shore 
They  are  to  be  met  with  everywhere  along  the 
coast,  and  will  well  repay  the  lover  of  natural  his- 
tory for  the  trouble  in  studying  their  formation  and 
habits,  t 

Starfish  are,  as  Professor  Forbes  quaintly  ob 
serves,  "  endowed  with  the  power  of  indulging  in 
sudden  suicide."  Some  of  the  species  when  cap- 
tured fall  to  pieces,  and  the  various  transformations 
which  the  embryo  of  a  Starfish  goes  through  before 
it  attains  maturity  are  very  wonderful.  I  regret  that 
space  will  not  permit  me  to  dwell  upon  them  here ; 
but  I  must  describe  the  mode  in  which  the  "  fine 
finger"  insinuates    himself  into  the  oyster.     It 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


103 


turns  its  own  stomach  inside  out,  in  the  form  of  a 
lobe,  and  this  lobe  lias  such  pliable  properties,  that 
when   the  unsuspecting  oyster  opens  just  a  wee 
portion  of   its  shell,  the  sly   Starfish    pokes  his 
stomach  in,  and   skilfully  manages  to  extract  all 
the  succulent  portion  of  the  animal.    The  hand- 
somest of  the  Starfishes  found  on  our  coast  is  the 
"  Sun-star."      It    is    found    on    oyster-beds    and 
scallop-banks.     The  "  Purple-tipped   Sea-urchin  " 
aud  the   "Common  Urchin"   are  the  most  gene- 
rally known  of  the  British  species.    The  latter  are 
eaten  abroad,  and  are  said  to  be  remarkably  pala- 
table.   Judging  from  tbe  avidity  with  which  Crass 
seize  and  devour  Sea-urchins,  one  would,  imagine 
the  fame  of  their  savour  well  deserved ;   that  is 
supposing  the  taste  of  Crass  and  human  beings  to 
approximate.     Anyhow,  the  Sea-urchiu's  relation, 
the  Sea-slug,  is  considered  a  delicacy  by  the  Celes- 
tials.   However,  the  Chinese  are  known  to  possess 
queer  notions  about  culinary  matters,  so  that  their 
verdict  cannot  be  relied  on.     Unfortunately,  most 
unfortunately,  the  siege  of  Paris  has  given  the 
poor  Parisians  ample  opportunity  of  tasting  and 
testing  some  of  the  articles  of  food  used  in  China 
— such  as  dogs,  cats,  and  rats. 

Now  I  come  to  a  higher  order  of  marine  animals> 
old  acquaintance  doubtless  of  my  readers,  Crus- 
taceans, comprising  Prawns,  Shrimps,  Crabs,  and 
Lobsters,  not  forgetting  the  well-known  Barnacle, 
and  the  Sea-acorn. 

It  was  not  my  object  when  I  began  this  article  to 
include  in  it  any  animal  that  could  not  be  met  with 
by  the  sea-shore  pedestrian  ;  therefore  as  the  edible 
Crab  and  Lobster  are  mostly  table  friends,  I  shall 
dismiss  them  at  once,  but  the  various  Crabs  we  find 
under  the  seaweed -fringed  rocks,  or  buried  in  the 
soft  sand,  demand  a  longer  notice.  First  of  all  there 
is  the  brave  little  Velvet  Crab  with  its  bright  coat  of 
brown  and  blue,  and  the  Hermit  Crab,  that  singular 
creature,  which,  not  having  been  provided  by  nature 
with  an  armour  of  its  own,  seeks  a  coat  of  mail  for 
its  hinder  extremities  in  the  empty  shell  of  a  whelk. 
Some  evil-disposed  naturalists  have  slandered  the 
poor  hermit  of  the  ocean,  by  asserting  that  it  first 
kills  the  rightful  owner,  eats  him  up,  and  then  takes 
possession  of  his  property;  but  this  fact  is  not 
proven.  Pishermen  call  the  hermits  "  wigs."  The 
Angular  Crab  is  found  on  the  Welsh  coast,  and  the 
Spider  Crab  off  Dorsetshire  and  North  Wales,  and 
the  other  species  of  the  tribe  ;  and  a  very  extensive 
tribe  it  is  too,  far  beyond  the  limits  of  an  ordinary 
article  like  this,  otherwise  much  might  be  written 
of  interest  respecting  the  different  kinds  peculiar  to 
our  own  shores. 

Molluscs,  also,  I  must  unwillingly  set  aside, 
although  the  shells  of  some  are  so  beautiful,  both  in 
colour  as  well  as  structure,  that  it  would  be  a  real 
pleasure  to  describe  them;  for  the  true  lover  of 
natural  history  finds  (next  to  the  enjoyment  of  col- 


lecting specimens)  most  satisfaction  in  writing 
about  them  for  the  amusement  of  others  ;  and  if  I 
have  succeeded  in  affording  pleasure  to  even  one 
fellow  mortal,  who  like  myself  appreciates  a  walk 
on  the  beach,  not  simply  for  the  sake  of  benefiting 
by  the  health-giving  sea-breezes,  but  on  account  of 
the  opportunity  it  affords  us  of  acquiring  a  greater 
insight  into  the  works  of  Him  who  formed  the 
glorious  scene,  and  framed  a  scale  of  being,  each 
holding  an  important  rank  or  link  in  the  vast  chain 
of  creation,  I  shall  feel  amply  repaid  for  my  labour 
in  writing  "A  Ramble  by  the  Sea-shore." 

"  Oh  Nature,  how  I  love  thee  !  how  my  soul 
Delights  to  gaze  on  thy  resplendent  form, 
Till  like  Pygmalion,  raptured  by  the  sight, 
And  passionately  fond,  God  gives  thee  life 
In  every  feature.     And  thou  art  not  matter, 
But  vital  essence.     In  thy  streams  and  hills, 
And  vales  and  mountains,  trees  and  herbs  and  flowers  , 
And  all  the  living  creatures  that  they  hold, 
I  see  and  feel  the  active  soul  of  heaven." 

H.  E.  Watney. 


TI. 

npi  was  a  pet  squirrel,  whose  history  is  now 
-*-  about  to  be  written.  In  the  spring  of  1870 
a  party  of  workmen,  who  were  employed  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  "glorious  Goodwood,"  captured 
fifteen  or  sixteen  young  squirrels  {Sciurus  vulgaris) , 
some  of  which  had  scarcely  opened  their  eyes  to 
the  joys  of  their  home  in  the  "  High  wood."  The 
smallest  of  the  batch  was  presented  to  my  hopeful 
son  and  heir,  who  entered  with  alacrity  into  the 
project  of  rearing  and  civilizing  this  "  babe  of  the 
wood."  When  we  first  made  his  acquaintance  he  was 
a  little  sandy  urchin,  not  larger  thau  a  mouse,  and 
his  tail  was  a  tail,  but  it  was  nothing  more.  There 
was  the  long  thin  tapering  central  axis  which  in 
due  time  would,  it  was  hoped,  become  a  brush ; 
but  that  graceful  appendage,  the  glory,  and  doubt- 
less the  pride  of  all  squirrels,  was,  at  this  very 
elementary  stage  of  development,  represented  by 
two  rows  of  soft  silky  hairs,  branching  off  at  right 
angles  from  the  opposite  sides  of  the  axis.  Its 
abdomen  was  white,  but  not  spotless.  A  number 
of  suspicious-looking  black  pustules  were  scat- 
tered about  it.  Investigation  proved  them  to  be 
fleas,  and  fleas  too  that  seemed  toj  be  quite  con- 
tented with  the  state  of  life  unto  which  they  had 
been  called,  for  they  stuck  most  tenaciously  to  the 
silky  fur,  and  resisted  with  all  the  energy  in  their 
nature  any  attempt  to  remove  them.  Their  ab- 
sence, however,  being  a  prime  necessity,  vigorous 
measures  were  adopted,  the  whole  brood  were  de- 
stroyed, and  never  afterwards  did  we  see  even  the 
ghost  of  a  flea. 

One  of  the  first  difficulties  felt  in  connection 
with  our  pet  was  in  the  selection  of  a  name ;  but 
some  one  remarked  that  he  was  "  a  little  thing,  a 


101 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


tiny  little  thing."  So  we  called  him  Tiny,  which  by 
abbreviation  became  Ti,  and  Ti  he  remained  to  the 
end  of  the  chapter.  When  Ti  came  to  us,  he  must 
have  been  either  very  ignorant,  very  sullen,  or  very 
perverse,  for  either  he  did  not  know  that  he  was 
hungry,  or  would  not  confess  it,  or  was  determined 
not  to  take  any  food ;  anyway,  he  rolled  himself  up 
into  a  ball,  and  took  no  heed  of  his  surroundings ; 
and  when  unrolled  time  after  time,  by  being  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  for  inspection  and  caresses,  he 
rolled  himself  up  again,  and  composed  himself  to 
sleep.  Still  the  necessity  for  food  was  obvious, 
though  Ti  did  not  recognise  it ;  and,  moreover,  the 
young  proprietor  was  very  anxious  to  see  his 
"property"  feed.  We  procured  some  milk,  which 
once  was  new,  and  warmed  it  and  sugared  it,  to 
make  it  a  decent  imitation  of  the  food  Ti  would 
probably  have  been  fed  on  had  he  remained  for  some 
time  longer  in  the  "  High  wood  "  ;  but  though  we 
held  it  to  Ti's  nose,  and  called  Ti,  Ti,  Ti,  any 
number  of  times,  and  in  every  imaginable  tone  and 
pitch,  Ti  refused  to  open  an  eye,  much  more  his 
mouth.  Seeing  that  he  had  not  arrived  at  years 
of  discretion,  we  attempted,  by  kind  compulsion,  to 
force  some  food  upon  him ;  but  little  could  we  get 
into  his  mouth,  much  less  could  we  get  to  pass  out 
again  in  the  direction  we  desired.  After  a  number 
of  experiments  we  hit  upon  an  expedient  which 
answered  admirably:  we  took  the  shank  of  a 
tobacco-pipe,  and  having  greased  it  well,  we  drew 
it  full  of  warm  sugared  milk  with  the  mouth,  and 
then  placing  the  small  end  between  Ti's  lips,  we 
gradually  forced  the  nourishing  fluid  down  his 
throat.  On  the  pipe  Ti  progressed  favourably ;  but 
iu  time  the  quantity  of  sugared  milk  necessary  to 
his  sustentation  involved  a  considerable  expenditure 
of  time  and  patience.  With  the  hope  of  expediting 
matters,  we  again  tried  the  spoon ;  but  Ti  was  obdu- 
rate; nothing  woidd  induce  him  to  take  even 
sugared  milk  out  of  such  a  hard,  cold  thing  as  a 
spoon;  he,  however,  consented  to  take  a  little  out 
of  the  hollow  hand,  and  when  at  length  he  grew  too 
old  for  the  pipe,  he  took  the  cup  of  Diogenes  into 
favour,  and  to  the  day  of  his  death  preferred  it  to 
cither  china  or  plate.  When  Ti  arrived  at  maturity, 
he  became  a  local  celebrity.  Never  was  there  a 
squirrel  so  tame,  so  playful,  and  withal  so  good- 
natured  ;  such  was  the  common  report,  which, 
although  it  probably  originated  very  near  home, 
was  certainly  endorsed  by  every  one  who  made  Ti's 
acquaintance.  Time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the 
leaps  and  falls,  the  tricks  and  expedients,  the  hair- 
breadth escapes  and  the  sportive  doings  of  Master 
Ti.  The  history  of  his  scudding  and  scuffing  be- 
hind the  book-shelves,  the  clatter  and  commotion 
he  made  when  he  had  climbed  to  the  shelf  in  the 
kitchen,  where  the  pots,  pans,  and  kettles  stood  in 
long  and  shining  row,  must  still  remain  unwritten. 
Ti  had  a  sweet  tooth— he  liked  sugar— aud  many 


a  time  has  he  mounted  the  breakfast-table,  and, 
having  helped,  himself  to  a  glistening  lump,  settled 
down  on  his  haunches,  curled  his  brush  up  to  his 
ears,  and  set  to  work  chiselling  off  piece  after  piece 
in  rapid  succession  ;  but  even  this  sweet  morsel  he 
would  lay  aside  for  a  little  square  lump  of  bread 
saturated  with  sweet  tea  or  coffee.  Of  course  Ti 
liked  nuts  and  sweet  acorns :  milk  he  did  not  care 
for,  and  meat  in  all  forms  and  conditions  was  his 
utter  detestation :  the  nearest  approach  to  animal 
food  he  ever  tolerated  was  a  piece  of  bread  dipped 
in  fresh  dripping,  but  very  little  would  he  eat  of 
that. 

There  were  no  traces  of  vice  in  Ti ;  you  might 
catch  him  anywhere  and  anywhen, — that  is,  if  you 
could,— and,  having  caught  him,  you  might  roll  him 
up  in  a  ball,  wind  his  brush  over  his  ears,  and  thrust 
him  into  your  pocket,  where  he  would  perhaps  sleep 
for  hours;  but  if  you  held  him  in  your  hand  without 
caressing  him  or  playing  with  him,  he  would  try  to 
escape,  and  after  many  attempts  would  probably 
give  you  a  nip,  and  profiting  by  your  surprise,  escape ; 
but  irritate,  tease,  annoy,  or  bilk  him  as  you  would, 
he  never  showed  the  least  resentment ;  aud  though 
he  would  bite  to  obtain  his  release,  he  never  did  it 
with  malice  aforethought.  Ti  hated  confinement 
with  an  honest  hearty  hatred.  Give  him  liberty  and 
an  acorn  and  he  was  content ;  but  all  the  sugar  in 
the  world  would  never  sweeten  confinement,  no 
matter  how  large  the  cage ;  and  we  did  make  him 
one  larger  than  a  mastiff's  kennel;  but  it  was  a  cage 
all  the  same,  and  the  moment  he  was  put  in,  he  set 
to  work  to  get  out ;  and  if  he  could  not  succeed,  he 
would  come  to  the  front,  and  there  pivoting  himself 
on  his  hinder  feet,  he  would  see-saw  from  side  to 
side,  bringing  down  his  fore  feet  alternately  right 
and  left  of  an  imaginary  straight  line  running  be- 
tween his  two  hinder  feet.  In  this  way  he  would 
keep  up  an  incessant  and  monotonous  pit-pat  pit-pat 
for  a  very  long  time;  and  it  not  unfrequently  hap- 
pened that  he  obtained  his  liberty  again,  because  we 
preferred  his  freaks  and  mischievous  pranks  to  see- 
ing him  in  such  apparent  agony.  Poor  Ti,  that  was 
his  ruin  :  one  day  he  was  thus  let  out,  and  after  a 
time  forgotten,  and  when  again  remembered  was 
nowhere  to  be  found.  The  house  was  searched, 
every  bed  unmade— for  the  villain  would  get  into  bed 
sometimes;  every  closet  was  ransacked,  every  means 
of  egress  examined ;  but  no  Ti  could  be  found.  At 
length  the  tip  of  his  brush  was  seen  protruding  from 
under  his  cage,  and  that  being  removed,  disclosed 
his  cold,  stiff,  and  flattened  body.  The  cage  had 
apparently  been  left  so  that  he  could  crawl  under 
it,  and  in  so  doing  he  had  brought  it  down  upon 
himself.  Alas,  poor  Ti !  We  buried  him  in  the 
garden  amid  the  sorrow  and  regret  of  all,  and  more 
than  one  eye  was  wet,  for  he  had  ceased  to  be  "pro- 
perty," aud  had  become  one  of  the  family. 

W.  C. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


105 


ON  CLEANING  DIATOMACEOUS 
GATHERINGS. 

VARIOUS  methods  of  preparing  Diatomaceous 
material  for  mounting  have  from  time  to  time 
been  given  in  the  numerous  text-books  treating  on 
microscopic  manipulation.  I  will,  therefore,  sup- 
pose the  reader  to  be  well  acquainted  with  the  use 
of  nitric  acid  for  the  purpose  of  getting  quit  of 
delicate  vegetable  and  calcareous  matter,  and  also 
with  the  sulphuric  acid  and  potash  process.  The 
manipulator  is,  however,  often  disappointed  with 
the  appearance  of  his  slides  after  using  the  methods 
just  alluded  to;  one  source  of  annoyance  is  the 
precipitation  of  the  diatoms  in  little  flocculent  tufts, 
and  although  shaking  the  test-tube  or  bottle  tem- 
porarily breaks  them  up,  they  form  again  when  a 
drop  is  placed  on  the  slide:  the  cause  of  this  appears 
to  be  the  remains  of  minute  fibrous  matter;  this 
may  be  got  rid  of  by  adopting  the  following  plan. 
Pour  off  the  supernatant  water,  and  replace  with 
strong  ammonia,  cork  the  test-tube  or  bottle,  and 
allow  it  to  stand  for  two  or  three  hours,  then 
shake  it  well,  and  the  diatoms  will  be  found  to  fall 
gradually ;  and,  after  the  lapse  of  an  hour,  if  the 
diatoms  are  minute,  pour  off  the  ammonia,  and 
wash  the  deposit  with  distilled  water,  until  all 
traces  of  it  are  got  rid  of.  Ammonia,  unlike  the 
caustic  alkalis,  do  not  injure  the  siliceous  valves, 
even  after  the  lapse  of  weeks. 

Another,  and  perhaps  a  still  greater  cause,  of 
what  are  usually  known  as  dirty  slides,  is  the  pre- 
sence of  minute  particles  of  sand,  which  no  amount 
of  washing  or  dividing  into  densities  will  eliminate. 
The  plan  I  am  about  to  describe  will  be  found 
effectual  in  getting  quit  of  this  annoyance.  The 
modus  operandi  is  as  follows : — I  take  two  slides, 
which  we  will  call  A  and  B ;  on  A  I  place  a  drop 
(not  too  small)  of  the  material,  on  B  a  drop  of  dis- 
tilled water ;  I  now  take  up  A,  and  shake  it  so  as 
to  cause  a  slight  whirling  motion  in  the  drop,  and 
then  suddenly  tilt  it  towards  one  corner,  the  water, 
of  course,  flowing  to  the  lowest  point,  the  drop  I 
allow^to  run  into  the  drop  on  slide  B ;  it  will  then 
be  found  that  the  water  has  separated  the  diatoms, 
leaving  the  sand  behind. 

If  the  quantity  of  material  is  small  in  quantity 
and  rare,  the  sand  and  the  few  diatoms  mixed  with 
it  can  be  washed  into  a  small  test-tube,  and  the 
eliminating  process  just  described  may  again  be  ap- 
plied to  it.  If  the  material  contains  large  and  heavy 
forms,  such  as  (Eupodiscus  and  Aulacodiscus,  they 
are  better  picked  out,  as  from  their  size  they  are 
apt  to  be  left  behind.  I  have,  however,  found  no 
difficulty  in  separating  the  largest  forms  in  the 
Toome  Bridge  deposit  from  the  sand  by  this 
method.  If  the  material  is  very  sandy,  the  drop 
on  slide  B  may  be  treated  as  it  had  previously  been 


on  slide  A.   This  method,  although  occupying  some 
little  time,  and   requiring  a  little   practice,   will 
amply  repay  the  manipulator  in  the  greatly  im- 
proved appearance  of  his  slides. 
Norwich.  P.  Kitton. 


SONG  LARKS. 

"VTATURE  is  again  resuming  her  lovely  robes  : 
■L^  we  shall  soon  be  surrounded  by  our  beauti- 
ful choristers  that  charm  us  as  we  stroll  through  the 
wood.  The  charming  wood,  clothed  as  it  were  by 
magic,  the  flowering  thorn,  the  pretty  primrose  and 
other  little  flowerets,  all  seem  smiling  at  their  old 
friend  the  ivy-clothed  oak.  How  new,  how  enjoy- 
able ;  yet  spring  is  but  a  repetition ;  how  still,  how 
grand  everything  is  as  we  stand,  listening  to  the 
sweet  note  of  some  bird  that  sings  so  freshly  in 
Nature's  great  concert-hall.  Migratory  birds  are 
fast  arriving  to  swell  the  sublime  chorus. 

"We  shall  now  enjoy  the  grotesque  flight  of  the 
Titlark,  toying  and  treating  us  to  jerks  of  his  finely 
measured  note,  singing  with  amorous  vigour  to 
charm  his  mate,  whom  he  has  preceded  by  a  few 
days.  The  Titlark  is  a  delicate,  pretty  little  bird, 
slight  and  fragile  in  appearance ;  it  is  about  half 
the  size  of  the  Skylark ;  it  builds  in  the  grass,  and 
sometimes  in  low  bushes;  it  runs  very  swiftly;  it 
sings  on  the  ground,  on  the  branch  of  a  tree,  and 
on  the  wing,  but  does  not  mount  like  the  Skylark. 
The  song  of  the  Titlark  is  good  and  very  pleasing, 
and  is  much  used  to  teach  other  birds,  but  mostly 
to  teach  the  Linnet  and  Canary.  When  first  caged, 
there  is  a  little  trouble  in  getting  them  to  feed;  but 
when  you  get  over  that,  they  soon  sing.  To  get 
them  to  feed,  you  should  place  a  few  mealworms 
under  a  glass,  around  which  you  can  give  them 
some  bread  and  egg  chopped  fine,  on  the  top  of 
which  you  can  strew  a  few  mealworms  cut  in  pieces. 
When  they  see  the  worms  move  under  the  glass, 
they  will  pick  at  them,  and  thereby  will  be  tempted 
to  eat  those  around  the  glass :  after  a  day  or  two 
they  will  take  their  food  readily. 

But  for  all  this  they  do  not  live  long  in  captivity, 
seldom  living  more  than  one  season.  They  lose 
their  appetite ;  they  also  moult  twice  in  a  year, 
which  mostly  reduces  them  to  extreme  weakness, 
from  which  they  mostly  die. 

There  is  another  bird  much  like  the  Titlark, 
called  the  Pipit.  It  is  sometimes  mistaken  for  the 
Titlark  by  inexperienced  lark-fanciers;  but  the 
Pipit  is  more  diminutive  and  not  so  bright  in  colour : 
they  are  sometimes  taken  in  great  numbers  in  the 
autumn :  it  is  soft-billed,  feeding  mostly  upon  flies 
and  larva;.  As  a  caged  bird  it  is  perfectly  useless ; 
it  has  not  any  song,  merely  a  call— pip-pit. 

But  the  Lark  is  raised  to  the  highest  pitch  o  f 
beauty  in  the  Woodlark,  whose  song  is  perhaps 


106 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


second  to  no  bird  that  adorns  our  land  ;  he  makes 
our  woods  ring  to  the  echo.  I  have  known  some  of 
my  friends,  when  listening  to  the  Woodlark,  think 
it  the  song  of  the  Nightingale,  a  bird  which  it  is 
little  inferior  to  in  song,  and  in  some  instances  sur- 
passes, for  it  is  easy  to  obtain,  and  not  much  trouble 
in  keeping  in  health,  and  will  sing  freely  almost 
anywhere,  in  spring,  summer,  aud  autumn ;  indeed, 
too  much  cannot  be  said  in  praise  of  this  charming 
songster.  I  have  seen  this  bird  kept  in  a  small 
cage,  and  even  then  sing  well ;  but  this  is  an  injus- 
tice :  it  should  have  a  cage  about  15  by  10  inches, 
with  two  perches  about  2^  inches  from  the  bottom, 
and  boxes  outside  for  food  and  water ;  taking  care 
to  give  plenty  of  gravel  on  the  bottom,  mixing  it 
occasionally  with  a  little  wood-ash,  which  will  be 
found  an  excellent  preventive  against  vermin ;  but 
if  your  cage  be  made  of  mahogany,  little  else  is 
needed.  The  Woodlark  differs  from  many  birds ; 
e.g.,  it  will  not  take  the  song  of  any  bird,  although 
you  hang  it  near  others  that  are  incessantly  singing, 
as  though  it  were  aware  of  its  own  matchless  song> 
and  not  one  note  will  it  take  of  another.  This  is 
one  of  the  few  birds  that  sing  in  the  night,  the 
others  being  the  Nightingale  and  the  lesser  Reed- 
sparrow.  White,  in  his  "  Selbornc,"  says  "  the 
Woodlark  is  often  suspended  in  hot  summer  nights 
all  night  long." 

The  Skylark  mounting  and  singing  is  really  a 
beautiful  bird,  and  one  whose  acquaintance  is  per- 
haps more  cultivated  than  any  of  our  English  song- 
birds. This  familiar  songster  has  been  highly 
praised  by  the  great  bard  Shakspeare,  "  Hark,  the 
lark  at  heaven's  gate  sings."  It  is  very  hardy,  and 
will  live  to  a  great  age,  living  sometimes  twenty 
years]:  it  should  be  purchased  when  a  brancher ;  it 
will  attain  perfection  in  song  at  three  years  of  age  ; 
its  song  will  then  remain  good  for  many  years.  A 
brancher  should  be  kept  near  a  flight-bird,  that  is, 
one  that  moulted  and  learned  his  song  in  the  field, 
for  the  Skylark  is  not  like  the  Woodlark ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  is  really  a  good  mocking-bird,  and  will 
take  the  song  of  any  bird  it  may  be  near,  especially 
at  moulting  time.  I  have  heard  the  Chaffinch  and 
Linnet  imitated  to  perfection  by  this  bird ;  it  re- 
quires but  moderate  care,  food  as  for  the  Woodlark, 
with  turf  and  large  cage ;  all  larks  should  have  a 
little  canary-seed  mixed  with  a  plentiful  supply  of 
gravel,  and  fresh  water  at  least  once  a  day. 

Chas.  J.  W.  Rudd. 

A  double  Orange  is  to  me  a  novelty.  It  was 
of  the  ordinary  size,  and  divided  into  "  quarters " 
as  usual,  but  the  quarters  fitted  accurately  upon  a 
little  orange  inside.  This  little  one  divided  into 
quarters  also,  and  was  yellowish,  as  if  enclosed  in  a 
thin  skin.  It  contained  pips,  as  also  did  the  outside 
one—  W.  L.  W. 


PROCESSIONARY  MOTHS. 

CERTAIN  members  of  the  Lepidopterous,  or 
Moth  aud  Butterfly  order,  belonging  to  the 
genus  Cuethocampa  of  Stephens,  have  a  curious 
history  of  their  own,  partly  on  account  of  the  regu- 
lar order  which  the  larvae  retain  when  moving  from 
one  spot  to  another,  and  partly  because,  from  their 
structure,  they  must  be  ranked  among  the  enemies 
of  mankind.  The  particular  species  are  the  Wild 
Pine-moth  (Cn.  pityocampa),  the  Stone  Pine-moth 
(Cn.  pinivora),  and  the  Processionary  Moth  (Cn. pro- 
cessioned). Neither  of  these  species  is  known  in 
England,  but  on  many  parts  of  the  Continent  they 
are  by  no  means  uncommon,  and  often  work  much 
damage  in  the  forests;  the  first-named  attacking 
the  Scotch  fir,  the  second  the  fir  from  which  it  takes 
its  name,  and  the  last  confining  itself  to  the  oak 
(fig.  02). 


Fig.  62.  Caterpillar  and  Moth  of  Cncthocimjia  processioned. 

The  larvae  are  "sociable"  in  their  habits,  feeding 
together  in  large  numbers,  aud,  like  so  many  sociable 
insects,  they  are  wont  to  migrate  on  occasions.  The 
term  "processionary"  has  been  applied  to  them 
from  the  singular  manner  in  which  these  insects  ar- 
range themselves  when  on  the  move,  and  the  regu- 
lar order  which  they  preserve  during  a  march.  They 
are  evening  or  night  feeders, — at  least  they  rarely 
start  on  a  journey  before  the  sun  has  set ;  and  then, 
if  it  be  necessary  to  change  their  quarters,  a  single 
caterpilliar  takes  the  precedence  by  common  con- 
sent ;  he  is  at  once  followed  by  a  second;  this  by  a 
third;  and  so  on  until  the  "  procession"  has  reached 
about  two  feet  in  length.  Then  two  caterpillars 
appear  side  by  side,  with  two  more  behind  them  for 
several  ranks.  At  a  given  point  they  arrange  them- 
selves in  threes;  after  another  interval  in  fours;  still 
later  in  fives,  sixes,  &c;  until  the  whole  swarm  is  in 
motion,  the  later  ranks  having  as  many  as  twenty 
individuals  side  by  side. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


107 


By  what  instinct  they  are  led  to  arrange  them- 
selves in  this  singular  manner  it  is  impossible  to 
say ;  but  so  compact  is  the  body,  and  so  well-set 
the  ranks,  that  the  spectator  rarely,  if  ever,  sees  a 
head  protruding  beyond  its  neighbour  next  in  ad- 
vance; the  line,  in  fact,  is  as  firm  and  well-arranged 
as  in  the  best  regiment  of  a  well-disciplined  army. 
Nor  is  this  all :  no  sooner  does  the  leader  stop,  than 
the  ranks  immediately  behind  him  come  to  a  halt, 
as  though  by  a  common  impulse,  and  a  fresh  move 
forward  is  made  with  the  same  precision  and  regu- 
larity. This  contimies  until  the  new'feeding-ground 
is  reached,  when  the  caterpillars  disperse  for  a 
while,  ready  to  rearrange  themselves  at  some  signal 
entirely  hidden  from  our  ken. 

So  far  these  little  creatures  appear  as  very  harm- 
less members  of  insectdom  ;  but  however  much  we 
may  admire  and  wonder  at  the  strange  instinct 
which  guides  these  larvae  on  their  path,  it  is  well 
not  to  venture  too  near  their  forest  haunts,  for  they 
are  gifted  with  a  property  which  renders  them  any- 
thing but  pleasant  neighbours.  I  allude  to  the 
"  urticating "  nature  of  the  hairs  with  which  the 
caterpillars  are  clothed. 

The  moths  themselves  are  perfectly  innocent ; 
sombre  in  colour  and  quiet  in  their  habits,  they  live 
the  usual  insouciante  existence  of  their  tribe,  never, 
willingly  obtruding  themselves  on  the  world :  it  is 
the  progeny  to  which  they  give  birth  that  makes 
itself  felt,  in  more  senses  than  one.  No  sooner  are 
the  little  torments  brought  into  the  world,  than  they 
surround  themselves  with  a  common  web,  within 
which  they  seek  shelter,  and  to  which  they  retire 
when  danger  threatens. 

All  this  is  only  what  is  done  by  our  Ermines  and 
Gold-tails,  and  many  others  of  our  native  Lepido- 
pters;  but  unfortunately  for  the  good  name  of  these 
Cnethocampids,  and  for  the  peace  of  mind  of  those 
who  come  near  them,  these  caterpillars  are  clothed 
with  tufts  of  hair  of  a  peculiar  and  most  aggravating 
kind.  The  web,  too,  which  grows  with  their  growth 
until  it  is  sometimes  as  large  as  a  man's  head,  be- 
comes impregnated  with  these  hairs,  which  are  very 
long,  of  a  black  and  white  colour,  and  either  smooth 
or  barbed  and  feathered  (fig.  63). 

Woe  to  the  person  who  incautiously  meddles 
with  one  of  the  nests,  or  picks  up  a  caterpillar.  No 
sooner  do  these  poisonous  hairs  come  in  contact 
with  the  surface  of  the  body,  than  they  produce  an 
itching  sensation,  followed  by  inflammation  more  or 
less  severe,  according  to  the  state  of  the  victim 
and  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere.  Sometimes 
the  effects  are  no  worse  than  those  made  by  the 
sting  of  a  nettle,  the  wounded  part  swelling,  and  the 
skin  after  a  while  peeling  off :  at  others,  the  irrita- 
tion caused  by  the  entrance  of  the  pointed  hairs 
into  the  pores  of  the  skin  has  been  known  to  pro- 
duce a  very  serious  illness,  and  even  death. 

From  their  very  fragile  nature,  these  hairs  are 


unfortunately  scattered  like  so  much  fine  dust,  and 
as  they  cling  to  whatever  damp  objects— such,  for 
instance,  as  the  human  body — they  may  chance  to 
touch,  the  discomfort,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  pro- 
duced among  persons  compelled  to  frequent  the 
forests  in  which  these  animals  abound,  is  almost 
indescribable.  To  disturb  their  web-made  castles, 
which  are  placed  against  the  tree-trunks,  or  sus- 
pended from  the  boughs  at  a  few  feet  from  the 
ground,  is  attended  with  considerable  risk,  as  the 
hairs  are  in  that  case  set  free  and  dispersed  in  every 
direction. 


Fig.  63.  Hairs  of  the  Processionary  Moth,  magnified. 

The  Processionary  Moth  abounded  in  the  woods 
which,  previously  to  the  late  unhappy  war,  skirted 
the  city  of  Paris,  and  were  a  source  of  no  small 
annoyance  to  the  citizens,  who  loved  to  stroll  and 
picnic  in  the  leafy  glades.  If  there  was  one  spot 
on  earth  dearer  than  another  to  the  Parisian,  it  was 
the  Bois  de  Boulogne,  as  it  stretched  away  from 
the  Arc  de  l'Etoile,  with  its  pretty  rides  and  alleys. 
But  much  of  his  admiration  for  his  favourite  lounge 
was  damped  by  the  presence  of  the  "  chenille  veni- 
neuse,"  as  it  was  termed.  Indeed,  when  their 
webs  were  more  than  usually  abundant,  as  was  the 
case  in  the  year  1865,  many  parts  of  the  wood  were 
positively  closed  by  the  authorities  against  the  pro- 
menaders. 

In  the  southern  departments  of  Erance  the 
danger  of  coming  in  contact  with  these  treacherous 
insects  is  so  much  considered,  that  persons  com- 
pelled by  business  to  be  near  a  tree  infested  by 
them  are  recommended  to  envelop  their  bodies  in 
oiled  linen  before  attempting  to  cut  off  and  burn  a 
branch  on  which  a  web  has  been  formed.  No  cattle 
can  be  driven  into  the  woods  infested  by  the  moth. 
Woodcutters  are  warned  to  be  careful  to  protect 
themselves  by  anointing  the  exposed  parts  of  their 
bodies  with  oil :  nor  should  they  ever,  if  possible, 
approach  any  part  of  the  forest  where  the  moths 
abound,  in  the  face  of  the  wind,  lest  the  minute 
particles  of  hair  be  blown  into  their  faces. 

The  dead  caterpillar  is  to  be  as  carefully  avoided 
as  the  living  animal.  The  celebrated  Reaumur,  in 
his  monograph  of  this  insect  (Mem.,  torn,  ii.),  men- 
tions, that  while  engaged  in  dissecting  it,  his  skin 


108 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


became  inflamed  and  covered  with  a  kind  of 
eruption,  and  that  his  eyes  were  affected  for  several 
days.  Bonnet  too  felt  an  extraordinary  numbness 
in  his  fingers  shortly  after  removing  some  of  the 
larvae  from  the  water  in  which  they  had  been 
drowned.  The  numbness  was  followed  by  an  itching 
and  burning  sensation. 

As  there  is  never  an  evil  without  its  antidote,  so 
in  this  instance  there  is  a  rival  insect  which  helps 
largely  to  diminish  the  numbers  of  the  Processionary 
caterpillars.  This  is  the  Calosoma  sycophanta,  Web., 
the  larva  of  which  is  about  an  inch  and  a  half  long, 
rather  fiat  above,  and  with  the  upper  surface  of  the 
body  of  so  lustrous  a  black  colour  that  the  skin 
appears  to  be  of  a  horny  nature,  though  really  quite 
soft  to  the  touch.  It  has  six  feet,  and  a  pair  of 
mandibles  of  formidable  dimensions,  which  cross 
each  other  completely  when  at  rest  (fig.  C4).    To 


Fig:.  64.  Calosoma  sycophanta  and  its  larva. 

quote  the  words  of  a  French  writer,  "  The  larva  of 
Calosoma  appears  to  have  been  created  for  the  sole 
purpose  of  keeping  in  check  the  caterpillars  of  the 
Processionary  Moth "  (Chenu,  CoUopteres,  55). 
Utterly  regardless  of  the  poisonous  hairs  with 
which  it  must  be  iu  constant  contact,  it  forces  its 
way  into  the  nest,  and  commences  a  general  slaughter 
of  the  helpless  inhabitants.  It  is  an  exceedingly 
greedy  animal,  so  that  a  single  grub  in  the  midst 
of  a  family  of  caterpillars  is  as  voracious  and  de- 
structive as  a  wolf  in  a  sheepfold.  It  goes  on  killing 
and  eating,  until  [it  literally  almost  bursts— even 
that  contingency,  I  believe,  is  on  record  iu  the  annals 
of  Entomology;  the  result  being  that  it  at  last  loses 
all  power  of  moving,  and  lies  in' a  state  of  utter  help- 
lessness, gorged  and  swollen,  at  the  mercy  of  the 
first  enemy  that  scents  its  retreat.  And  sometimes 
retribution  comes  from  a  quarter  whence,  perhaps, 
it  was  least  expected.  If,  at  this  critical  period, 
another  larva  of  the  same  species  chances  to  come 
near  the  spot  in  search  of  food,  it  turns  aside  from 
its  natural  prey,  and  without  the  slightest  com- 
punction fixes  itself  on  its  aldermanic  brother,  nor 


leaves  him  until  the  half-digested  juices  of  the  ill- 
fated  ;Processionaries  are  transferred  to  its  own 
capacious  interior ! 
Potter ne,  Wilts.  W.  W.  Spicer. 


THE     GNAT. 

{Culex  pipiens.) 

rPIIE  proboscis  of  the  Gnat  has  been  described 
-1-  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  microscopic 
objects,  yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  has  been  under- 
stood or  truly  seen,  by  many,  in  its  complete  con- 
dition. In  purchased  slides  one  sees  what  appears 
a  wonderful  variety  of  long,  slender  spears  and 
lancets  scattered  over  the  field  of  the  microscope 
(though  there  are  really  only  two  piercing  instru- 
ments) ;  but  how  these  are  arranged  for  use  has  been 
hitherto,  so  far  as  we  can  find,  unexplaiued.  It  is 
not  attempted  by  Professor  Rymer  Jones,  nor  iu 
the  Micrographic  Dictionary.  The  shop  specimens 
are  commonly  mounted  iu  balsam,  the  heat  of 
which  makes  the  parts  warp  and  fly  asunder.  The 
illustration  to  this  paper  is  drawn  from  one  in 
chloride  of  calcium,  which  answers  well,  if  care  be 
taken  in  mounting  to  use  no  pressure.  By  the  help 
of  this  and  a  beautiful  semi-transparent  preparation 
of  the  entire  insect  in  balsam,  and  a  store  of  gnats 
preserved  in  spirits  of  wine,  we  propose  attempting 
to  throw  some  further  light  upon  the  several  parts 
of  this  interesting  object,  and  especially  on  its  con- 
formation. 

Gnats  in  this  country  are  a  restricted  genus, 
numbering  about  twenty  species  only,  and  of  these 
only  two  or  three  are  venomous ;  the  chief  offender 
being  the  subject  of  this  paper.  In  other  countries 
they  are  very  numerous,  as  in  the  South  of  Europe 
and  in  Australia.  India,  according  to  Sir  Emerson 
Tennent,  has  four  mosquitoes.  In  South  America 
each  great  river,  as  Humboldt  tells  us,  has  its  own 
peculiar  species ;  and  who  shall  say  how  many 
infest  the  West  Indies  and  central  America,  where 
the  Spaniards  found  them,  and  named  them  mos- 
quitoes, or  the  flies,  for  so  the  word  signifies  ;  the 
root  being  the  Latin  musca.  We  too,  have  "  a 
fly,"  a  musquito,  the  Culex  pipiens,  or  common 
Gnat,  which,  although  it  has  been  scientifically  dis- 
tinguished from  the  true  mosquitoes  of  India  and 
America,  is  very  similar  to  them  in  general  ap- 
pearance and  habits.  In  hot  seasons  lately  the 
Gnats  have  been  so  active  and  venomous  that  it  has 
been  thought  they  were  imported  from  abroad ;  but 
that  must  always  be  very  unlikely,  and  the  bite  of 
our  own  gnats,  when  the  blood  is  at  fever-heat,  is 
bad  enough,  at  such  times,  to  account  for  all 
annoyances. 

The  Gnat  by  night  is  bold,  and  makes  its  attacks 
rather  with  perseverance  than  strategy  ;  but  by  day 
its  cunning  is  remarkable.     Sir  E.  Tennent,  in  his 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GO  SSIP. 


109 


"  Ceylon,"  notices  this  of  the  mosquito  most  pre- 
valent in  India  (Culex  laniger).  "  When  you  are 
reading,"  he  says,  "  a  mosquito  will  rarely  settle  on 
that  portion  of  the  hand  which  is  within  range  of 
your  eyes,  but,  cunningly  stealing  by  the  underside 
of  the  book,  fastens  on  the  wrist  or  little  finger,  and 
noiselessly  inserts  his  proboscis  there."  This  is 
just  the  method  of  the  English  Gnat,  as  many  no 
doubt  can  testify,  who, indulge  in  reading  out  of 
doors  in  the  vicinity  of  lakes  or  ponds.  In  de- 
scribing, then,  the  proboscis  of  the  common  Gnat, 
that  of  many  so-called  mosquitoes  may  no  doubt  be 
included,  which  gives  the  subject  a  wider  interest. 
The  proboscis  of  the  Gnat  removed  from  its 
sheath  (of  which  we  shall  write  afterwards)  has 
sis  parts :  the  lip,  or  channel  for  the  blood ;  the 

tongue;  the  bands  (two  in 
number) ;  and  two  serrated 
lancets.  Let  us  describe 
each  of  these  in  succession. 
The  lip  (marked  1  in  the 
illustration),  though  finer 
than  the  smallest  needle,  is 
the  largest  and  chief  part 
of  the  proboscis.  It  has  an 
average  diameter  of  the  one 
thousandth  part  of  an  inch. 
It  is  an  open,  boat-shaped 
channel,  through  which  the 
blood  of  ihe  victim  is  drawn ; 
the  end  is  pointed,  and  at 
this  part  is  narrowed  just 
sufficiently  to  hold  firmly  the 
end  of  the  tongue  which 
passes  through  it.  After 
entering  the  head,  the  lip 
takes  a  tubular  form,  and 
terminates  in  a  globular 
enlargement,  which  is  con- 
nected with  the  pumping 
instrument  in  the  thorax 
and  the  viscera. 

The  tongue  (2)  is  a  long, 
very  slender  tube,  supported 
along  its  whole  length  by  a 
membrane  of  the  same  width  and  length  as  the  lip, 
which  it  exactly  covers,  so  as  to  make  it,  with  the 
aid  of  the  bands,  an  air-tight  channel.  The  bands  (4), 
one  onfeach  side,  are  exceediugly  slender  bodies, 
being  strips  of  delicate  membrane,  broad  at  the  base 
near  the  head  and  tapering  gradually  towards  their 
extremities;  they  are  there  thickened;  at  the  edge> 
and  become  again  a  little  broader.  The  use  of  these 
is  to  enwrap  the  edges  of  the  tongue-membrane  so 
far  as  they  extend,  which  is  nearly  to  the  end ;  the 
thickened  edges  in  this  part  fitting  by  a  notch  over 
the  rim  of  the  lip,  and,  at  the  same  place,  passing 
across  the  tongue  from  side  to  side,  keep  it  in  place. 
The  thickened  ends  (seen  at  No.  4)   also  seem  to 


Fig.  65.  —~- 

Proboscis  of  Gnat,  x  400. 

1.  Lip  or  channel. 

2.  Tongue  (the  tube), 

3.  Lancets. 

4.  4.  Bands  (the  ends). 


furnish  a  stay  or  rest  for  the  shafts  of  the  lancets, 
against  which  they  may  slide  correctly.  The  lancets 
(3)  are  two,  one  on  each  side  of  the  lip ;  their  shafts, 
near  the  head  of  the  insect,  have  broad  membranes 
for  steadiness,  and  are,  throughout  their  length, 
thickened  at  the  back.  They  move  backwards  and 
forwards  with  an  alternate  motion. 

A  wound  being  made  with  these,  the  lip  is 
gradually  inserted,  and  the  blood  drawn  into  the 
channel ;  not,  however,  through  its  end,  for  that  is 
closed  by  the  tongue,  hut  probably  beneath  the 
edges  of  the  tongue-membrane  below  its  junction 
with  the  bands. 

The  use  of  the  tongue- tube  is  not  so  obvious. 
If  traced  upwards,  it  is  found  to  enter  the  head, 
passing  through  the  upper  part  of  the  lip,  and 
terminates  at  the  back  of  the  insect's  head  in  a  large 
pear-shaped  gland.  This  is  probably  the  poison- 
gland  ;  and  it  seems  to  be  the  office  of  the  tongue- 
tube  to  convey  the  poison  into  the  wound  to  liquefy 
the  blood,  the  globules  of  which,  in  the  larger 
animals,  might  otherwise  be  too  large  to  find  an 
entrance ;  or  if  otherwise,  this  addition  to  the  food 
may  for  some  other  reason  be  necessary.  The  tube 
of  the  tongue,  being  in  advance  of  the  lip,  brings 
the  poison  well  in  contact  with  the  blood. 

This  delicate  proboscis  cannot  be  seen  in  the 
living  insect  as  it  is  represented  in  the  illustration, 
because  it  is  covered  throughout  its  entire  length 
by  a  strong,  thick,  elastic  case  or  cover,  split  into 
two  parts,  and  thickly  clothed  with  hair  and 
feathers.  The  Gnat,  not  having  the  power  of  ex- 
tending the  proboscis  beyond  this  cover,  or  of  re- 
tracting it,  a  question  arises  as  to  how  the  proboscis 
is  brought  into  use.  Reaumur,  who,  for  the  sake 
of  observation,  courted  the  attention  of  these 
insects,  avers  that  the  case  is  bent  like  a  bow,  until 
the  two  ends  meet.  It  is  not  easy  to  understand 
how  this  could  be,  and  we  incline  to  think  that  this 
illustrious  observer,  not  being  allowed  by  the  wary 
insects  to  look  very  closely,  was  under  an  illusion. 
The  proboscis  is  nearly  half  as  long  as  the  insect, 
and  it  is,  not  easy  to  believe  that  so  slender  and 
delicate  an  instrument  could  be  driven  to  such 
a  depth  and  with  such  force  as  this  supposition 
implies.  The  Gnat  has  very  long  legs,  and  small 
muscular  power,  and  requires  a  long  trunk  to  reach 
its  food.  The  case  is,  however,  provided  with  a 
hinge  at  a  distance  from  the  end,  of  about  one-eighth 
part  of  its  length  ;  here  it  doubles  back  easily  on 
each  side,  and  this  part  is  lined  with  several  very  fine 
leaflets,  the  whole  formingakind  of  tassel,  which  hangs 
loosely  over  the  extremity  of  the  proboscis  (as  much 
of  it  as  appears  in  the  illustration).  We  are  disposed 
to  contend  that  no  more  than  this  is  brought  into 
use,  and  that  it  is  quite  sufficient  to  penetrate  those 
smooth  and  delicate  parts  of  the  skin  which  the 
Gnat  instinctively  selects,  on  the  wrist,  the 
temples,  the  knees,  the  ears,  the  eyelids,  &c.  How, 


110 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


otherwise,  could  these  sensitive  parts  be  wounded 
with  perfect  unconsciousness  at  the  time  to  the 
victim  ?  The  illustration  is  three  inches  in  length, 
and  represents  about  one-eighth  part;  we  may 
then  form  a  notion  of  the  extension  and  tenuity  of 
this  delicate  trunk  by  recollecting  that,  on  this 
scale,  and  iu  this  proportion,  it  would  reach  a  length 
of  two  feet ;  the  breadth  being,  on  an  average, 
about  half  an  inch.  The  poison  of  the  Gnat  is  acid, 
like  that  of  other  insects  and  of  reptiles,  and  the 
best  remedy  for  it  is  the  speedy  application  of  an 
alkaline  solution  ;  a  little  carbonate  of  soda  will  do 
very  well;  and  where  the  swelling  is  persistent 
(and  it  sometimes  lasts  a  week)  and  the  wounded 
part  out  of  sight,  a  little  of  this  in  powder  made 
into  a  plaster  with  soap,  and  kept  on  for  some  time, 
is  a  good  domestic  remedy.  But  prevention  is  better 
than  cure.  Tourists  in  the  South  of  Europe  and 
elsewhere  will  do  well  to  drive  out  the  Gnats.  On 
retiring  to  rest,  set  the  light  in  the  passage  or  an 
adjoining  room,  and  systematically,  commencing  at 
the  further  end,  rouse  up  the  troublesome  intruders 
by  beating  the  walls  and  shaking  the  curtains,  and 
so  urge  them  through  the  door,  which  may  then  be 
shut.  The  few  stragglers  remaining  on  the  walls 
may  be  detected  with  a  light  and  easily  despatched. 
If  but  one  remains,  it  will  fly  straight  to  its  prey 
through  the  dark,  and  there  will  be  nothing  for  it 
but  to  rise,  strike  a  light,  and  secure  it ;  unless  by 
a  happy  blow  in  the  dark,  as  the  twang  nears  your 
face,  you  may  have  him  (or  rather  her,  for  only  the 
females  are  so  intrusive  and  bloodthirsty)  safe  and 
sure  between  the  palms  of  your  hands.  Your  sleep 
will  then  be  undisturbed ;  and  although  this  may 
seem  a  great  trouble,  it  is  better  than  a  dizzy  head, 
a  swollen  face,  and  knotted  ears,  the'  ill-concealed 
smiles  of  the  coffee-room  in  the  morning,  and  the 
condolence  of  your  friends.  S.  S. 


NOTES   ON   ROTIFERS. 

/^vN  the  2Sth  of  September  I  brought  home  a 
*-*  bottle  of  water  from  a  pond  in  the  neighbour- 
hood for  examination.  The  first  drop,  with  a  small 
particle  of  weed,  supplied,  besides  many  stentors, 
rotifers,  and  vorticels,  a  very  large  specimen  of 
Hydra  viridis.  He  was  full  of  buds — like  cups — 
buds  down  his  body,  buds  along  all  his  arms ;  he 
was  more  cumbered  with  children  than  the  tra- 
ditional lady  of  the  shoe. 

The  next  dip  furnished  two  or  three  specimens  of 
Melicerta  ringens.  This  interesting  individual, 
who  builds  a  house  of  cricket-balls,  has  been  so  well 
described  that  I  shall  not  venture  to  say  much 
about  it.  It  may,  however,  interest  you  to  know 
that  I  kept  them  alive  for  several  days,  from  Sep- 
tember 28  to  October  2.  Such  minute  creatures  I 
prefer  to  examine  on  a  glass  slide  with  a  thin  cover- 


ing-glass over  them,  which  gives  them  sufficient 
room  for  expanding  themselves  freely,  and  admits, 
at  the  same  time,  the  use  of  a  -ro  objective.  On 
one  occasion  the  Melicerta  having  got  under  a  piece 
of  weed,  I  took  off  the  covering-glass,  and  in  re- 
placing it  broke  off  a  large  portion  of  the  tube, 
without,  however,  damaging  the  animal :  this  acci- 
dent caused  him  much  trouble  ;  he  worked  hard  all 
day,  and  afforded  excellent  opportunities  of  examin- 
ing the  method  of  making  and  depositing  the  pellets 
of  which  his  house  is  built. 

So  far  as  I  could  discern,  by  using  different 
powers  (up  to  ~o  with  C),  the  pellets,  when  first 
made,  are  all  more  or  less  round.'  If  they  become 
hexagonal  it  is  only  by  subsequent  pressure  ;  those 
in  the  lower  part  of  the  tube  are  hexagonal  (mostly) ; 
those  in  the  upper  not  so. 

By  the  afternoon  the  Melicerta  had  added  several 
rows  to  his  dilapidated  w"alls,  and  by  six  o'clock  the 
house  was  much  enlarged. 

It  is  not  easy  to  trace  the  process  of  receiving, 
smashing  up,  manufacturing,  and  placing  the  pellets, 
from  beginning  to  end. 

So  far  as  I  could  form  an  opinion,  it  seemed  to 
me  that  the  particles  received  througk  the  mouth 
passed  at  once  to  the  gizzard  to  be  smashed  up,  and 
were  thence  conveyed  to  an  organ,  called,  I  believe, 
by  Mr.  Gosse,  from  its  function,  the  IC  mill,"  and 
from  its  shape,  "  the  ventilator,"  to  be  formed,  by 
rapid  rotation  and  mixing  with  some  viscid  fluid, 
into  balls. 

It  seemed  as  if  this  organ  rejected  some  particles 
presented  to  it,  which  were  shot  out  with  force. 
The  gizzard  sometimes  worked  slowly  ;  the  "  mill " 
appeared  to  be  always  going  at  a  uuiform  speed  ; 
in  shape  it  is  something  like  the  openings  in  the 
pygidium  of  a  flea. 

By  the  evening  of  September  30  the  house  was 
finished.  October  1,  examined  the  Melicerta  with 
1  inch  and  B,  and  •£;  inch  and  B,  and  black  ground 
condenser  :  most  lovely ;  the  fans  transparent,  like 
pearl.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  anything  more 
beautiful  than  the  appearance  of  the  Melicerta  under 
this  method  of  illumination — unless  it  be  that  of  a 
forest  of  Eloscularia,  presently  to  be  described. 

There  was  a  constant  rush  of  particles  into  the 
mouth  at  the  bottom  of  a  funnel  defended  by  a  pro- 
jecting lip,  in  shape  like  a  sausage,  and  from  the 
mouth  to  the  mastax ;  a  constant  rejection  of 
particles,  and  a  transference  of  some  to  the  "mill," 
whose  working  under  this  illumination  is  particularly 
distinct. 

November  11. — Examined  several  specimens  of 
Melicerta  and  of  Floscidaria  ornata  and  cornuta.  I 
found  considerable  difficulty  in  distinguishing  these 
two  forms. 

With  the  black  ground  condenser  the  sight  was 
very  beautiful.  Do  not  think  I  am  exaggerating 
when  I  tell  you  that  there  were  literally  hundreds 


HARLWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Ill 


of  these  Floscules  fringing  both  sides  of  the  filaments 
of  myriophyllum,  their  transparent;  houses,  of  a 
pale,  bluish  tint,  distinctly  visible  against  the  dark 
background— rendered  more  distinct  in  some  cases, 
and  coloured  a  darkish  brown  by  the  adherence  of 
foreign  matter— the  long  tufts  of  hair  extending  to 
a  great  length  from  the  ends  of  the  five  (or  in 
some  cases  four)  projecting  lobes  ! 

These  tufts  had  not,  so  far  as  I  saw,  any  inde- 
pendent motion;  they  are  not  cilise,  but  bristles; 
they  act  as  funnels,  from  out  of  which  unhappy 
monads  entering  never  escape. 

But,  though  motionless  in  themselves,  yet,  after 
an  insect  has  entered  within  their  limits,  they  are 
bent  inwards  by  a  simultaneous  motion  of  the  lobes 
towards  the  centre,  and  the  insect,  which  has  been 
swimming  about  freely  in  the  cup  formed  below  the 
lobes,  is  forced  into  the  rapacious  mouth,  speedily 
smashed  up  and  devoured.    The  ciliary  motion  (if 
any)  in  Flosculwia  ornata  is  somewhere  at  the  base 
of  the  silex,  for  the  insects  which  get  between  the 
tufts,  and  were  unable  to  escape  through  them, 
were  drawn  downwards  by  a  perceptible  ciliary 
motion,  though  the  cilise  are  not  themselves  visible. 
However,  I  am  not  sure  of  the  correctness  of  this 
observation,  for  on  a  subsequent  day,  November  22, 
I  made— as  the  result  of  the  examination  of  some 
hundreds  of  Eloscules— the  following  note:— The 
smaller  fishes  which  are  so  freely  devoured  appear 
unable  to  escape  after  once  entering  the  funnel  of 
hairs;   but  there  is  certainly    no   ciliary    motion 
sufficient  to   impede  their  movements,   or   direct 
them    in    any    perceptible    degree.     They    swim 
naturally  and  freely  within  the  funnel.    It  seemed 
that  the  Fioseule  permitted  this    until    the  fish 
presented  his  head— end  on— to  the  throat,  when, 
by  a  suddeii  convulsive  contraction  of  all  the  lobes 
which  bend  inwards  towards  each   other,  and  a 
spasmodic  action  and  opening  of  the  throat — like  a 
child  straining  at  a  cherry— the  fish  shoots  in  in  a 
moment,  and  is    seen  no  more.      I  watched  this 
interesting  process  when  monads  were  swimming 
about  together  in  the  funnel  of  a  large  Eloscule. 
But  I  must  spare  you  further  gossip.    If  yon  would 
see  a  sight  of  beauty  never  to  be  forgotten,  examine, 
under  a  black  ground  condenser  some  filaments 
of  Myriophyllum,  fringed  with    a  forest  of  Elos- 
cules :    you    could   not    soon  forget    it.     Of   all 
the  hundreds  which  I  examined  there  was  not  one 
without  eggs — some  had  four,  most  of  them  five— 
about  half  way  up  the  pedicle— none  at  the  bottom. 

E.  S. 


Eakly  Appearance  or  the  Cuckoo. — In  com- 
pany with  two  friends  I  saw  the  cuckoo  at  Bred- 
wardine,  Hereford,  on  March  23rd.  It  was  also 
heard  on  the  same  day  at  Eardisley,  five  miles 
distant  from  Bredwardine.—  Rev.  R.  Blight. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Newts.— The  Smooth-newt  (Lissotritonpvnctatus, 
Daud.)  is  the  commoner  of  our  native  species  of  the 
family  Salamandrad®.     It  is  a  very  pretty  little 
creature,  inhabiting  almost  every  pond,  river,  and 
ditch  of  any  importance  in  this  country.    The  flat- 
tened form  of  the  tail,  the  less  graceful  body,  and  the 
more  sluggish  movements  of  the  newt,  easily  dis- 
tinguish   it    from  the  Lizards   (Lacertada),  with 
which,  not  always    by  the  ignorant,  the  former 
creature  is  often  confounded.    In  the  earlier  stages 
of  existence,  the  young  of  the  newts,  or  tadpoles, 
breathe  by  means  of  gills  (branchiae),  as  is  also  the 
case  with  the  tadpoles  of  the  frog  [liana  temporaria, 
Linn.) ;  they  are  placed  in  tufts  or  branches,  at  the 
side  of  the  head,  and  are  beautiful  objects  for  micro- 
scopic examination.    The  crest  of  the  male  is  seen 
to  perfection  at  the  breeding  season,  which  is  in 
early  spring,  when  it   is  beautifully  ridged  and 
spotted,  but  it  disappears  in  summer.    Last  month 
I  obtained  seven  newts  from  a  pond  on  Barnes 
Common,  four  males  and  three  females ;  three  of 
them,  by  dint  of  perseverance,  managed  to  scale  the 
slippery  surface  of  the  basiu,  and  escaped.     The 
following  two  days  were  very  warm,  and  one  of 
these  gentlemen  was  found  in  the  conservatory  dried 
up  like  a  mummy  ;  the  whole  body  was  greatly  dis- 
torted as  if  the  animal  had  died  in  great  agony.   I 
have  not  succeeded  in  finding  the  other  two.    My 
newts  have  to  content  themselves  with  common 
worms  from  the  garden,  blood-worms  being  not  too 
common  in  our  neighbourhood.    The  reptiles  seize 
the  worm  by  the  middle,  which  disappears  by  a  suc- 
cession of  snaps  down  the  gullet  (oesophagus).   This 
occupies  several  minutes.    In  the  centre  of  the  tub, 
where  I  keep  them,  I  have  placed  a  large  piece  of 
flint,  the  summit  of  which  appears  above  the  surface 
of  the  water ;  the  animals  climb  up  this,  and  will 
remain  on  it  in  the  same  position  for  hours,  and 
will  not  stir,  not  even  when  I  take  out  the  aforesaid 
piece  of  flint,  and  hoist  it  in  the  air.     Can  any  of 
the  readers  of  Science-Gossip  inform  me  of  the 
habits  of  the  Great  Warty-newt  (Triton  cristatus), 
if  they  differ  from  those  of  the  Smooth-newt  ?    I 
have  read  that  the  latter  reptile  sometimes  becomes 
the  prey  of  the  former.    The  Gigantic  Salamander 
(Sieboldtia  maxima)  is,  I  believe,  the  largest  of  this 
group.    I  have  seen  the  specimens  of  this  creature 
at  the  Zoological  Gardens.     They  are  extremely 
sluggish,  and  feed  on  fish.    Though  I  have  watched 
them  several  times,  they  have  always  been  motion- 
less at  the  bottom  of  the  pond.    The  fish  on  which 
they  are  fed  swim  close  up  to  and  around  them,  ap- 
parently without  any  sign  of  dread.    These  speci- 
mens were  obtained  from  the  lakes  in  the  mountain 
districts  of  Japan—  E.  Raise,  Notting  Hill. 


112 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Moulting  of  the  Crustacea.— A.  E.  Murray, 
in  Lis  interesting  paragraph  on  the  above  subject, 
does  not  intimate  any  acquaintance  with  the  fact 
that  crabs,  lobsters,  and  other  similar  Crustacea, 
withdraw  the  fleshy  parts  of  their  claws  from  the 
old  shells  by  a  splitting  of  the  latter,  at  the  narrow 
parts  below,  as  Reaumur  long  ago  supposed,  though 
often  denied  since.  Not  only  is  this  the  case,  but 
all  the  large-clawed  crabs  have  their  shelly  cover- 
ings organized  for  the  purpose,  the  line  where  the 
fracture  is  to  take  place  being  always  to  be  6een. 
The  cast-off  shells  certainly  appear  perfect  at  the 
narrow  part  of  the  claws;  but  a  more  careful 
examination  in  that  of  a  shore  or  edible  crab,  a 
lobster,  or  a  crawfish,  will  show  that  the  narrow 
part  has  given  way,  and  expanded  at  the  valvular 
place  alluded  to,  facilitating  the  withdrawal  of  the 
fleshy  part  of  the  claws.  The  writer,  several  years 
back,  detected  this  splitting  in  exuvial  claws  cast 
off  in  the  Zoological  Gardens,  and  put  on  one  side 
as  a  proof  that  there  is  no  splitting.  A  less  careful 
observation  will  convince  any  one  if  he  will  look  out 
for  a  moulting  crab  in  about  six  weeks. — G. 

Longevity  of  the  Goose. — We  do  not  recol- 
lect having  seen  any  remarks  made  with  reference 
to  the  natural  life  of  this  bird.  A  gentleman, 
however,  who  resides  in  this  neighbourhood  can 
testify  that  he  has  had  a  male  and  female  of  the 
genus  in  his  possession  for  the  last  thirty-three 
years,  and  the  old  goose  still  continues  to  deposit 
her  eggs  every  season,  and  would  incubate  regularly 
were  she  allowed.  She  has  lived  in  a  state  of 
conjugal  happiness  with  her  lord  and  master  during 
the  greater  part  of  that  period,  and  the  couple  still 
seem  to  enjoy  a  full  flow  of  health  and  spirits. — 
Lame  {Co.  Antrim)  Reporter,  March,  1S71. 

Barnacles — A  Liverpool  pilot-boat  lately  picked 
up  in  one  of  the  channels  of  the  port  an  empty 
brandy-bottle  covered  with  barnacles  (Lepas  anutl- 
fera).  This  proves  that  the  barnacle  can  attach 
itself  to  glass,— a  fact  which  some  have  questioned. 
It  also  shows,  as  one  of  the  local  papers  remarks, 
that  a  vitreous  covering  would  not  protect  ships' 
bottoms  from  the  attacks  of  these  molluscs.  The 
bottle  has  been  placed  in  the  museum  of  the  town. 
— A.  II.  A. 

Preserving  Pup;e  through  the  Winter. — 
The  other  day  I  went  to  purchase  some  pupae  from 
the  lock-keeper  at  Baitsbite,  three  miles  from  Cam- 
bridge, and  I  there  saw  a  box  in  which  he  keeps 
those  which  he  had  collected.  It  struck  me  as  an 
extremely  well-planned  one,  and  I  will  attempt  to 
describe  it.  The  sides  and  ends  of  the  box  (the  size 
of  which  is  of  course  optional)  were  of  wood,  slop- 
ing outwards  from  the  bottom.  The  bottom  was 
entirely  of  perforated  zinc,  and  the  top  of  the  same 
material,  except  a  space  in  the  middle,  occupied  by 


a  wooden  lid,  by  which  to  take  the  pupae  in  and  out. 
This  box  was  kept  out  of  doors  in  rather  a  sheltered 
position,  and  the  pupae  well  covered  up  in  moss. 
When  there  has  not  been  rain  for  some  time  the  moss 
should  be  sprinkled  with  water  occasionally.  Let  me 
add  that  this  man  at  Baitsbite  has  some  good  insects 
for  sale,  as  well  as  pupae.  When  I  was  there  he 
had  plenty  of  Papilla  machaon  and  Algeria  api- 
formls,  the  former  of  which  I  am  afraid  to  say  is 
slowly  but  surely  disappearing  from  its  old  home  in 
the  fens  as  draining  progresses.—/.  R.  B.  31., 
Stone,  Staffordshire. 

The  Descent  of  Man.— The  early  progenitors 
of  man  were  no  doubt  once  covered  with  hair,  both 
sexes  having  beards ;  their  ears  were  pointed  and 
capable  of  movement ;  and  their  bodies  were  pro- 
vided with  a  tail,'having  the  proper  muscles.  Their 
limbs  and  bodies  were  also  acted  on  by  many 
muscles  which  now  only  occasionally  reappear, 
but  are  normally  present  in  the  Quadrumaua. — 
Darwin. 

"Duration  of  the  Pupa  State"  (p.  90). — I 
have  remaining  one  pupa  of  the  Privet  (Sphinx 
ligustri)  and  two  of  the  Puss  Moth  {Cerura  vinuld), 
of  1S69.  The  others  of  that  year,  viz.,  five  of  the 
former  and  three  of  the  latter,  became  imagos  in 
1S70.  The  cocoon  of  one  puss,  having  been  slightly 
broken,  has  enabled  me  to  ascertain  that  the  pupa 
is  still  alive,  but  I  cannot  be  certain  of  the  vitality 
of  the  other. — R.  Egerton,  31,  Victoria  Road,  Ken- 
sington. 

Gorgonia  Flabellum.— Mr.  Richmond  says,  in 
your  last  number,  that  he  has  seen  on  the  north 
coast  of  Cornwall,  thrown  up  by  the  sea,  the  axis 
or  horny  skeleton  of  this  zoophyte.  Is  he  certain 
that  it  was  this  gorgonia,  or  the  G.  verrucosa?  They 
are  very  unlike ;  but  my  brother,  Richard  Quiller 
Couch,  who  paid  close  attention  to  the  zoophytes 
and  calcareous  corallines  of  Cornwall,  and  pub- 
lished his  researches  in  the  third  part  of  the 
"Cornish  Fauna,"  says  that  "the  only  authority 
for  making  this  species  Cornish  is  Dr.  Borlase,  who 
at  page  2S0  of  his  '  Natural  History,'  states  that  it 
was  picked  up  in  Mount's  Bay  after  a  storm."  It 
was  dead  when  found,  and  probably  foreign.  We 
have  few  observers,  unhappily,  on  the  north  coast 
of  Cornwall.  The  fan-like  or  reticulated  form  of 
G.jtabellum  is  so  unmistakably  different  from  the 
branched  appearance  of  the  common  G.  verrucosa, 
that  I  am  interested,  as  a  Cornish  naturalist,  in 
knowing  whether  Mr.  Richmond  is  certain  of  the 
species. — Thomas  Q.  Couch. 

Subterranean  Pish. — An  American  paper,  the 
Montrose  Republican,  contains  the  following  interest- 
ing paragraph  on  subterranean  lakes  and  eyeless 
fishes,  seeming  to  show  that  the  eyeless  fish  is  a 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIP. 


113 


"development"  consequent  on  change  of  circum- 
stance :— It  is  well  known  that  great  trouble  and 
expense  have  been  caused  by  the  sinking  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  track  of  the  new  Jefferson  Railroad 
where  it  crosses  a  swamp  in  Ararat  township,  in 
this  county.  It  has  been  found  that  under  the 
swamp  is  a  subterranean  pond  of  several  acres  in 
extent,  and  of  considerable  depth.  This  pond  is 
covered  by  about  six  feet  in  depth  of  black  earth, 
which  supports  a  heavy  growth  of  woods.  The 
trees  are  mostly  soft  maple,  pine,  hemlock,  and 
birch,  many  of  them  ranging  from  six  inches  to 
three  feet  in  diameter.  Last  fall  it  was  discovered 
that  this  subterranean  pond  contained  many  fish  of 
the  kind  usually  found  in  this  part  of  the  country- 
pickerel  and  "shiners"  among  others— but  all  with-  " 
out  eyes !  In  the  darkness  of  their  subterranean 
abode  they  have  no  use  for  the  organ  of  vision. 
The  Ball  Pond,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  distant,  is 
now  "growing  over."  A  considerable  part  of  it 
has  become  subterranean  within  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  probably  before  many  years  more  it  will  be 
entirely  covered  like  the  other.  This  pond  is  about 
twenty  acres  in  extent.  For  some  distance  from 
the  shore  it  is  filled  with  a  dense  growth  of  water- 
lilies,  and  these,  no  doubt,  furnish  the  foundation 
of  which  the  superstructure  of  earth  is  commenced. 
— The  Standard. 

Early  Visitors. — While  out  shooting  on  Mon- 
day, the  10th  of  April,  near  Guildford,  I  heard  the 
Cuckoo  for  the  first  time.  I  thought  I  might  have 
been  mistaken,  but  the  next  morning  the  following 
appeared  in  the  Daily  News  to  corroborate  it : — 
"Yesterday  a  number  of  Cuckoos  located  themselves 
on  Tooting  and  Streatham  Common,  and  cheered 
the  districts  with  their  welcome  cry  for  some 
hours,  and  then  scattered  and  made  off  for  the 
Surrey  Hills.  These  migratory  birds  have;  made 
their  appearance  in  the  south  earlier  than  usual, 
they  being  rarely  heard  before  the  end  of  April." 
Morris,  in  his  "  British  Birds,"  mentions  one 
having  been  heard  on  the  14th.  Can  any  of  yoar 
readers  inform  me  if  it  has  been  heard  earlier  ? — 
/.  L.  C. 

The  Shall  Eggaii  (Eriogaster  lacustris). — 
Amongst  certain  of  the  Bombyces,  as  well  as  the 
Sphingidee,  it  has  been  noticed  that  a  second  winter 
is  passed  in  the  pupa  condition  by  some  individuals, 
as  noted  by  Mr.  Binnie  (p.  90),  and  pupee  of  the 
species  named  have  produced  moths  even  after  a 
third  winter,  as  related  by  one  of  the  old  naturalists 
(from  whom  I  regret  that  I  cannot  quote  verbatim); 
out  of  a  number  he  reared,  one  third  emerged  the 
following  spring,  another  third  the  second  spring, 
and  the  remainder  not  until  the  third  year.  As 
this  moth,  and  its  relative,  the  December  (Pcecilo- 
campa  Populi),  appear  at  a  season  when  severe 


weather  frequently  prevails,  this  circumstance  may 
be  designed  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  the 
species,  by  dividing  the  risk  it  runs.  The  reason 
why  others,  such  as  our  old  friend  the  Puss-moth, 
are  thus  occasionally  retarded,  is  not  very  clear. — 
F.B.S.C. 

Trichiurus  in  Ireland.— The  finding  of  the 
Silvery  Hair-tail,  lately,  in  two  places  in  South- 
western England,  lias  been  recorded  in  your  pages 
as  an  interesting  circumstance.  You  may  therefore 
wish  to  know  that,  about  three  months  ago,  five 
specimens  of  the  Trichiurus  Upturns  were  obtained 
in  Dingle  and  Tralee  Bays,  Kerry,  in  the  south-west 
of  Ireland.  They  were  sent  by  Dr.  Bustced,  of 
Castle  Gregory,  Tralee,  to  Mr.  William  Andrews, 
of  Dublin,  who,  speaking  with  authority,  de- 
clares that  this  is  the  first  time  that  this  fish 
has  been  recognized  on  the  coast  of  Ireland. — 
M.  H.  C. 

Swallow-tail  Butterfly  (p.  80).— Some  diffi- 
culty is  experienced  in  obtaining  eggs  from  butter- 
flies which  have  been  bred  in  confinement.  It  is 
questionable,  therefore/whether  Mr.  Laddiman  will 
succeed  in  his  experiment.  We  have  recorded  in 
"  The  Entomologist,"  that  Mr.  Gaze,  having  reared 
some  imagos  (in  1840),  found  two  paired  on  his 
window-blind.  He  obtained  eggs,  which  were  fer- 
tile. The  female,  however,  only  deposited  fourteen, 
though  supplied  with  nourishment,  a  small  propor- 
tion, probably,  of  the  natural  number.  As  must 
have  been  noticed,  even  by  the  unentomological 
eye,  these  insects  pair  on  the  wing,  and  hence  a 
departure  from  this  proceeding  is  a  rarely  occurring 
incident,  and  even  a  vivarium  hardly  supplies  the 
needful  space  for  an  aerial  excursion.  This  habit 
has  been  well  described  in  the  familiar  lines  of 
Rogers— 

"  Child  of  the  Sun,  pursue  thy  rapturous  flight, 
Mingling  with  her  thou  lov'st  in  fields  of  light." 

— F.R.S.C. 

The  Peregrine.  —  An  old  female  Peregrine 
Ealcon  {Falco  peregrlnus,  Gmel.),  passing  over 
the  waters  of  the  Golden  Horn,  near  the  bridge 
across  the  Horn,  stooped  amidst  the  shipping, 
steamers,  &c,  and  took  a  gull  from  off  the  waters, 
retiring  to  a  ship's  yard  close  by  to  consume  its 
booty.  A  fter  it  had  eaten  for  a  time,  an  English  sailor 
went  up  to  the  yard,  took  it  by  the  back  and  brought 
it  down  ;  it  is  fat,  wild,  and  healthy.  A  great 
number  of  Siberian,  Calandra,  and  Common  Larks 
were  shot  in  Asia  Minor  and  Europe,  in  the 
storm  of  the  early  part  of  February.  The  storm 
being  more  than  usually  severe  in  the  north,  a  great 
number  of  Siberian  Larks  have  arrived ;  many 
have  been  shot  for  eating.— Thomas  Bobson,  of  Or- 
takeny,  Turkey. 


114 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


BOTANY. 

The  London  Botanical  Exchange  Club.— 
Por  the  benefit  of  "  W.  W.  S."  and  other  botauists 
who  may  make  inquiries  similar  to  that  which  you 
answer  at  p.  90,  will  you  allow  me,  in  the  first  place, 
to  state  that  there  is  a  London  Botanical  Exchange 
Club ;  and  in  the  second,  to  offer  a  few  particulars 
regarding  it  ?    Por  some  years  prior  to  1S66,  there 
existed  a  Botanical  Exchange  Club  at  Thirsk,  under 
the  management  of    several  botanists,  prominent 
among    whom  was  Mr.  J.   G.   Baker.     On  Mr. 
Baker's  removal  to  London  the  title  of  this  society 
was  changed,  and  in  1867  the  first  report  of  the 
London  Botanical  Exchange  Club  was  issued,  the 
curators  being  Mr.  Baker  and  Dr.  Trimen.    In  the 
same  year  the  sixth  edition  of  "  The  Loudon  Cata- 
logue of  British  Plants "  was  published,    "  under 
the  direction  "  of  the  Club.  At  the  present  time,  the 
above-named  gentlemen  act  as  secretaries,  Dr.  Bos- 
well-Syme  being  the  curator.      The  rules  of  the 
Club  are  but  few.    Any  one  can  be  admitted  as  a 
member  upon  an  annual  payment,  to  either  of  the 
secretaries,  of  five  shillings;   and,   on  sending    a 
parcel  of  dried  plants,  is  enrolled  as  a  "  contributing 
member,"  and  is  entitled  to  share  in  future  dis- 
tributions.   All  specimens  sent  must  be  carefully 
dried,  and  not  exceed  in  size  10  x  10  inches ;  they 
must  be  as  perfect  as  possible,  roots  being  sent  of 
the  sedges,  grasses,  and  smaller  ferns,  except  in  the 
case  of  very  rare  species.    A  guide  as  to  what  to 
send  may  be  fouud  in  the  list  of  desiderata,  which  is 
issued  with  each  report.    Each  specimen  must  have 
attached  to  it  a  label,  bearing  the  number  and  name 
of  the  species  as  given  in  the  sixth  edition  of  the 
"London  Catalogue";  also  the  locality  and  county 
where,  and  the  date    when,    collected,    with    the 
collector's  name.    Each  parcel  should  be  accom- 
panied with  a  "  catalogue,"  in  which  the  desiderata 
of  the  member  should  be  marked,  and  must  be  sent 
each  year,  by  December  31st,  to  Mr.  Baker  or  Dr. 
Syme.  At  the  present  time  the  Club  contains  about 
fifty  members,  including  almost,  if  not  quite,  all 
British  botanists  of  note.    The  report,  which  is 
issued  annually,  contains  valuable  and  interesting 
notes  upon  the  more  remarkable  species  sent  for 
distribution ;  and,  as  a  brief  resume  of  the  annual 
progress  of  British  botany,  is  extremely    useful. 
Critical  species  and  varieties  receive  due  attention  ; 
and  by  the  aid  of  one'or  two  members  of  the  Society, 
among   whom  Mr.  Watson  is  prominent,  country 
botanists  are  supplied  with  good  sets  of  the  forms 
of  such  plants  as  Chenopodium  album,  often  accom- 
panied with  valuable  critical  remarks.  It  is,  indeed, 
to  the  country  botanist,  wbo  has  but  few  oppor- 
tunities of  referring  to  large  herbaria,  that  the  Club 
is  especially  useful.     Should  further  information  be 
desired,  the  addresses  of  the  secretaries  are — Mr. 


J.  G.  Baker,  25,  Sydney  Villas,  Richmond,  S.W. ; 
Dr.  Trimen,  71,  Guilford-street,  Russell-square, 
W.C. ;  from  either  of  whom  full  particulars  can  be 
obtained ;  as  also  from  James  Britten,  Royal  Her- 
barium, Keic. 

Zante  Currants  in  .Devon.  — In  Sciesce- 
Gossir  for  March  last,  on  page  67,  the  second  para- 
graph from  the  top  on  the  left-hand  side,  gives'an 
account  of  "the  first  home-grown  pudding-currauts." 
You  will  no  doubt  be  glad  to  receive  this  communi- 
cation on  the  subject.  More  than  twenty  years 
ago,  through  the  kindness  of  the  late  Sir  Patrick 
Ross  (who  for  many  years  was  Governor  of  the 
Ionian  Islands),  cuttings  of  the  Zante  currant  of 
commerce  were  procured  direct  from  that  island 
and  sent  to  me;  and  at  the  present  time  I  am  in 
possession  of  a  large  vine,  covering  many  feet  of 
wall,  grown  without  any  protection  whatever,  which 
has  for  ten  years  been  a  constant  bearer  •.  last  year, 
there  were  more  than  a  hundred  bunches  of  fine 
currants,  averaging  f  of  a  pound  weight  each,  with 
which  both  puddings  and  cakes  have  been  made ; 
and,  to  say  the  truth,  some  four  or  five  years  ago  my 
first  pudding  of  them  was  made.  No  doubt,  the 
mode  of  curing  might  be  improved,  as  mine  have 
simply  been  dried  in  the  sun. — William  Kennaway 
Spragge,  Paignton,  South  Devon. 

The  Pineapple  (p.  82). — There  are  fairly  com- 
I  plete  accounts  of  this  fruit  in  "  The  Treasury  of 
Botany  "  (Lindley  and  Moore)  under  "  Anauassa," 
j  and  in  the  "Penny  Cyclopaedia."      It  would   be 
interesting  to  ascertain  when  first  this  term  was  ap- 
propriated to  its  modern  use.    It  cannot  be   so 
!  restricted  in  the  following  line  :— "  Stormes  rifest 
I  rende  the  sturdy  stout  pineapple  tre,"  which  occurs 
;  in  Tottel's  Miscellany,  "  Uncertain  Authors,"  1557 
(p.  256,  Arber's  edition).— .K.  T.,  M.A. 

Cammocke. — This  can  hardly  be  the  restharrow 
in  the  following  passage :—"  The  cammocke,  the 
more  it  is  bowed  the  better  it  serveth"  (Lyly's 
"Euphues,"  p.  46).  If  not,  what  plant  is  it?— 
R.  T.,  M.A. 

Buxbaum's  Speedwell.— I  last  year  directed 
attention  to  the  enormous  quantities  of  Buxbaum's 
Speedwell  which  may  now  be  fouud  in  agrarian 
districts.  On  my  farm  I  now  have  it  everywhere, 
while  the  V.  agrestis  is  less  plentiful.  It  is  simply 
nonsense  to  say  that  it  was  unobserved  or  mistaken 
for  the  latter,  as  its  fine,  conspicuous  flowers  force 
themselves  upon  the  attention  of  the  most  casual 
observer.  I  have  spent  my  life  iu  the  country  and 
on  farms,  and  I  am  quite  prepared  to  state  that  the 
V.  Buxbaumii  is  abundant  over  miles  of  country, 
where  it  did  not  exist  five-and-tweuty  years  ago. 
It    is  by  no   means    a    solitary  example   of   the 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  C  E-G  OSSIP. 


Ill 


spread  of  interlopers  by  the  extension  of  cultiva- 
tion and  use  of  foreign  seeds.—/.  B.,  Bradford 
Abbas, 

Primrose  OxLir. — I  have  this  day  picked  from 
a  single  root  of  primrose  a  scape  of  flowers,  the 
stem  of  which  was  four  inches  iu  length,  from  which 
proceeded  six  pedicles,  the  longest  of  which  was 
three  inches,  surmounted  by  large  primrose  flowers 
of  over  an  inch  in  diameter.  Prom  the  same  roots 
proceeded  the  ordinary  single-flowered  primroses- 
The  general  aspect  of  the  plant  is  much  that  of  the 
the  Primula  officinali-vulgaris  of  the  New  English 
Botany  of  Dr.  Syme,  tab.  mcxxxiii.,  but  the  flowers 
are  of  the  size,  colour,  and  substance  of  the  prim- 
rose, and  should  perhaps  be  called  Primrose  Oxlip, 
rather  than  Cowslip  Oxlip.  We  have  always  con- 
sidered the  oxlip  to  be  a  hybrid  between  the  prim- 
rose and  cowslip ;  and  if  so,  probably  our  specimen 
may  be  the  result  of  hybridity  between  the  oxlip 
and  the  primrose.—/.  B.,  Bradford  Abbas. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Covering  Objects.— I  have  been  using  lately  a 
very  simple  and  efficient  little  instrument  for  fixing 
the  glass  covers  of  microscopical  preparations, — a 
conical  bullet,  the  flat  bottom  ground  to  a  smooth 
surface.  A  drop  of  water  fixes  the  glass  cover  to 
this  by  capillary  attraction.  The  bullet  is  inverted, 
and  the  edges  of  the  cover  painted  with  gold  size. 
It  is  then  held  by  the  pointed  end,  and  the  cover  is 
easily  and  correctly  placed  in  position  on  the  slide. 
The  bullet  is  left  on  until  the  gold  size  is  dry. 
Bubbles  are  more  easily  avoided  by  this  means  than 
by  gradually  letting  the  cover  down  with  a  needle 
or  forceps.— T.  Howse,  junr.,  Highfiel  d  Sydenham 
Rill. 

Trinacria  regina  —  The  Rev.  Eugene  O'Meara 
exhibited  at  the  Dublin  Microscopical  Club,  on  the 
20th  October,  1870,  a  specimen  of  this  interesting 
diatom  from  Arran.  As  our  readers  will  remember, 
this  is  one  of  the  species  found  in  the  slate  deposits 
of  Jutland,  and  recently  figured  in  the  journal  of 
the  Quekett  Microscopical  Club.  A  second  com- 
munication by  Mr.  P.  Kitton,  describing  some  new 
additional  forms,  appeared  in  the  last  number  of 
the  same  journal. 

Movable  Table.— Our  American  friend,  in  the 
last  number  of  Science-Gossip,  describes  a  movable 
table  or  stand  for  the  microscope  and  lamp.  Having 
had  a  very  simple  contrivance  in  use  for  some  time, 
perhaps  you  will  allow  me  to  describe  it,  in  the 
hope  that  it  may  be  helpful  to  my  fellow  micro- 
scopists.  It  consists  of  a  piece  of  deal  or  other 
wood,  1  inch  thick,  11  inches  wide,  and  18  inches 


long ;  over  one  side  is  stretched  a  piece  of  baize  or 
cloth,  which  is  nailed  on  at  the  edges  ;  on  the  other 
side  is  stretched  a  piece  of  thick  enamelled  cloth  or 
common  enamelled  leather,  which  is  also  nailed  on 
at  the  edges,  and  the  neater  this  is  done  the  better 
it  will  look.  The  reason  for  having  one  side  cloth 
and  the  other  side  enamelled,  is  this :  should  the 
table  on  which  the  microscope  is  to  be  exhibited 
have  a  cover,  on  the  enamelled  side  being  placed 
downwards  it  will  slide  as  easily  as  any  one  could 
wish.  If  the  table  be  polished  and  no  cover  on, 
then  the  cloth  side  should  be  placed  downwards, 
and  it  will  slide  with  the  greatest  ease.  I  have 
worked  with  several  microscopic  tables  or  stands, 
but  certainly  prefer  this :  most  tables  in  use  per- 
form a  circle,  whereas  with  this  arrangement  it  does 
not  matter  what  shape  the  table  is,  it  will  doequally 
well  for  all ;  besides  which  it  does  not  scratch  the 
table,  is  very  firm  and  steady,  is  inexpensive,  efficient 
in  working,  and  saves  much  time  and  trouble.— 
Frederick  Blankley. 

Anemone  Infusoria.  —  Dr.  Dick,  in  a  little 
treatise  on  the  "  Telescope  and  Microscope,"  pub- 
lished by  the  Religious  Tract  Society,  states 
that  "an  infusion  of  anemone,  prepared  after 
the  ordinary  manner,  with  cold  water,  at  the  end 
of  eight  days   will   afford  a   new  and  uncommon 

animalcule All  the  surface  of  its  back  is 

covered  with  a  very  fine  mask  in  the  form  of  a 
human  face,  perfectly  well  made."  Is  any  reader 
of  Science-Gossip  able  to  deny  or  verify  this  state- 
ment ?—  W. 

Q.  M.  O— Among  the  rising  Londoners  of  to-day 
who  give  themselves  to  microscopic  recreation  and 
study,  the  "  Quekett "  is  a  great  institution.    The 
work  it  is  doing  among  young  men  in  London  who 
have  evening  and  Saturday  afternoon  leisure,  has 
got  for  it  a  name.    The  "  Quekett  "  is  the  republic 
of  London  microscopists  and  naturalists.    It  is  the 
popular,  teaching,  and  working  club  of  this  metro- 
polis.   About  six  hundred  members  strong,  it  is 
rapidly  popularising  natural  history  as  a  field  pur- 
suit in  the  summer  months,  and  making  the  micro- 
scope a  fireside  companion  in  the  winter  in  many  a 
home.    With  the  North  London  Naturalists'  Pield 
Club,  and  the  Old  Change  Microscopical  Society, 
the  "Quekett"  is  fast  removing  the  reproach  which 
London  has  suffered  from  the  naturalists  of  the 
north.     A  Manchester  visitor    to  our  collecting 
grounds    to-day  may   hud  plenty  of  kindred  en- 
thusiasts for  nature  on  the   Saturday  afternoon. 
Not  to  know  of  the  "  Quekett "  and  its  work,  is 
to  have  a  limited  acquaintance  with  the  Londoners 
of   the  rising    generation,   and   of  the  place  the 
microscope  is  taking  in  the  pleasures  and  studies 
of  the  period. — Saturday  Afternoon  Rambles  round 
London. 


116 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Vanessa  polyciilobos.— In  the  summer  season 
the  Vanessa  polychloros  is  comparatively  scarce.  I 
see  it  occasionally,  but  not  frequently  ;  but  in 
March  and  April  hybernated  specimens  in  excellent 
preservation  (some  looking  so  fresh  that  they  might 
almost  seem  just  out  of  the  chrysalis)  appear  in 
great  profusion.  I  am  aware  that  this  species 
hybernat.es  very  freely,  but  it  seems  to  me  singular 
that  it  should  be  a  rare  butterfly  in  July  and  a 
common  one  in  March. — G.  S.  S. 

Bees  and  Soot  (Science-Gossip,  p.  71, 1S71). — 
7  do  not  know  whether  bees  make  use  of  soot  in 
the  manufacture  of  honey  or  not.  I  have  seen  bees 
going  into  their  hives  covered  with  soot,  looking  as 
though  they  were  mourning ;  but  this  has  been 
about  the  swarming  time.  I  therefore  attributed  it 
to  their  getting  in  that  state  while  looking  for 
a  habitation. — A.  B. 

Robin. — Robin  is,  alas!  dead.  He  died,  during 
my  absence  from  home,  rather  suddenly,  for  he  had 
been  singing  away  right  merrily  the  previous  even- 
ing. I  much  regretted  his  loss,  as,  during  my  stay 
at  Llandudno,  I  heard  that  hybrid  robin  and 
canaries  have  been  reared.  A  chemist  living  in 
Llandudno,  a  great  bird-fancier,  who  occasionally 
exhibits  his  pets  at  the  Crystal  Palace  shows', 
had  a  stuffed  specimen  of  a  robin-canary,  a  bird  he 
had  reared,  had  been  offered  five  guineas  for,  and 
refused  it.  It  had  but  little  of  robin  in  its  plumage. 
My  hen  canary  has  caught  a  few  notes  of  poor 
Robbie's  song,  and  of  an  evening,  at  the  time  he 
used  to  sing,  she  begins  to  warble  them.— H.  E.  IF. 

English  Hebbs  used  as  a  Substitute  for 
Gentian.— Apropos  of  "  R.  T.,  31.  J.'s"  question 
in  No.  76  of  Science-Gossip,  1  am  happy  to  inform 
him  that  our  British  flora  can  boast  of  very  many 
wild  plants  which  are  often  successfully  used  by 
country  people  in  cases  where  a  medical  man  would 
most  probably  prescribe  gentian  or  quinine.  The 
Willow,  Salix  alba,  is  one;  its  bark  is  both  tonic 
and  astringent,  and  a  powdered  preparation  of  it  was 
at  no  very  distant  time  given  by  an  old  woman  (a 
village  Doctoress,  for  in  those  days  female  M.D.'s 
were  unknown)  to  a  great  number  of  poor  people 
afflicted  with  the  ague.  Doctoress  Nelly's  patients 
recovered  ;  the  recognized  "  Medicine  Man's " 
did  not  get  on  so  well.  iEsculapius  became  jealous. 
Woman's  rights  had  not  been  mooted  in  those 
retired  parts.  A  report  got  abroad  that  "  old  Nelly 
was  a,  witch"  ;  in  the  mean  time  the  Doctor,  having 
obtained  one  of  the  far-famed  powdees,  and  sent 
it  up  to  Bristol  to  be  analyzed,  discovered  that  the 
chief  ingredient  in  it  was  the  bark  of  the  common 
white  willow  growing  by  the  river-side  at  the  bottom 
of  Nelly's  garden. 

"  There  is  a  willow  grows  aslant  the  brook, 
That  show*  his  hoar  leaves  in  the  glassy  stream." 

Nelly  did  not  make  "fantastic  garlands"  like 
"  Ophelia,"  but  she  made  decoctions  and  powders 
equal  in  value  to  quinine,  from  her  Salix  alba. 
W  orm wood  is  another  tonic.  It  is  intensely  bitter, 
and,  I  should  imagine,  most  disagreeable  to  take, 
but  it  is  given  iinntermittents.  A  dangerous  remedy, 
I  fancy,  though  the  plant  is  not  a  poison.  By  the 
way,  will  some  kind  reader  of  Science-Gossip  set 
me  right   if  I  am  mistaken  ?— but  1   believe  the 


1  absinthe  so  drunk  at  one  period  in  Paris,  is  made 
from  the  wormwood  (Artemisia  Absinthium),  absin- 
thium being  derived  from  the  Greek  of  "  without 
delight ;"  yet  the  Prench,  by  all  accounts,  delighted 
in  the  bitterness  of  their  favourite  drink.  The 
Germans  mix  powdered  wormwood-leaves  in  hot 
beer,  and  give  it  to  persons  subject  to  epilepsy. 
Then  we  have  the  "  Slanzanilla  "  of  Spain,  the  use- 
ful camomile  of  our  wastes,  the  plant  which,  I 
imagine,  gives  its  name  to  that  particular  kind  of 
sherry  which  medical  men  now  recommend  to 
dyspeptic  invalids.  The  peasantry  of  America  (the 
United  States)  give  decoctions  of  camomile  largely 
in  rheumatic  attacks,  the  sort  of  rheumatism  known 
there  as  "fever  and  ague  "  ;  and  some  of  our  own 
M.D.s  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  quite  equal  to  bark 
in  intermittent  fevers.  Hemp-agrimony,  the 
ground- vine,  tansy,  and  a  whole  host  of  others,  are 
native  herbal  tonics.  Your  correspondent  may 
have  tasted  the  leaves  of  the  last-named  plant  in 
different  puddings  and  omelets,  but  one  of  the  best 
uses  to  which  I  think  it  can  be  applied  is  that  of 
preserving  meat  from  the  attacks  of  those  horrid 
pests  in  hot  weather  to  all  good  house-keepers 
— flies.  A  few  bunches  hung  up  with  uncooked 
meat  or  poultry  will  drive  the  flesh-flies  away — the 
smell  is  not  unlike  camphor. — Helen  G.  Watney, 
Beaumaris. 

Eield  Club  in  South-Western  London 
(p.  92).— There  is,  I  believe,  no  Pield  Club  in  the 
South-western  suburbs.  The  atmosphere  of  London 
seems  prejudicial,  and  often  fatal  to  these  institu- 
tions, which  are  successful  enough  in  Liverpool  and 
Manchester.  The  "  Society  of  Amateur  Botanists," 
and  its  successor,  the  "  West  London  Pield  Club," 
have  existed  and  perished  within  the  last  ten  years ; 
and  even  the  North  London  Naturalists'  Club  is 
"  not  so  vigorous  as  when  at  first  started."  I  should 
be  very_  willing  to  assist,  as  far  as  I  could,  in 
establishing  a  society  for  South-west  London  upon  a 
firm  basis.— James  Britten,  F.L.S., Royal  Herbarium, 
Kew. 

Eaewig  (p.  91).— There  can  be  no  dispute  as  to 
the  appropriateness  of  Mr.  Spicer's  term,  earwing ; 
still,  considering  the  prevalence  of  the  idea  connected 
with  the  insect,  the  general  signification  of  its  name 
in  many  European  languages,  and  the  stock  from 
whence  we,  as  a  nation,  spring,  might  we  not  better 
trace  the  second  syllable  to  the  Saxon  wicga,  a 
worm  ?— thus  making  the  word  earwig  equivalent  to 
the  German  Ohrwurm. — E.  P.  P. 

The  Small  Eggab  (Eriogaster  lacustris). — In 
reply  to  P.  G.  Binnie's  question  in  your  last 
number,  "are  not  instances  of  such  great  retarda- 
tion [of  emergence  of  imago]  unusual  ?  "  I  beg  to 
say,— certainly  not,  in  this  particular  species.  I  have 
bred  them  somewhat  extensively,  ancl  have  invaria- 
bly found  that  a  small  proportion  of  the  pupa:  do 
not  change  uutil  the  second  year.  Indeed,  in  one 
instance  not  until  the  third — three  pupoe  of  1867 
did  not  become  images  until  the  spring  of  1870.  Last 
summer  1  brought  home  a  brood  or  two  of  cater- 
pillars from  a  hawthorn  hedge,  fifty-two  of  which 
became  pupse  in  due  course.  Of  these,  twelve  I  gave 
to  a  friend.  Sixteen  mrles  and  two  females  emerged 
on  February  11th ;  eight  males  and  two  females  on 
the  18th  ;  and  four  females  during  the  following 
week ;  leaving  eight  pupae  still  unchanged.  Of  course, 
the  reason  for  the  retardation  can  only  be  surmised  ; 
I  have  seen,  somewhere,  this  theory  :  that  as  the 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


117 


caterpillars  are  produced  very  early  in  the  spring,  a 
late  and  inclement  season  may  destroy  their  food- 
plant  and  themselves ;  in  which  case  the  reserve 
of  pupae  would  prevent  the  total  destruction  of  the 
species.  I  should  like  to  ask  a  question  in  return : 
Sometimes  a  large  cocoon  is  formed,  which  contains 
two  pupae,  I  have  never  had  any  insects  emerge 
from  these  double  cocoons.  Is  this  usual?  and 
wl,y  ? — jjm  jfr  Livett,  M.D.,  Wells,  Somersetshire. 

Popular  Errors.  —  Is  not  _  E.  T.  Cox  mis- 
taken in  supposing  the  verse  in  the  Psalms,  to 
which  he  refers,  speaks  of  the  adder  as  being  deaf. 
Why  then  should  she  stop  her  ears  ?  Does  it  not 
rather  refer  to  what  seems  a  common  opinion,  and 
what  the  natives  in  some  parts  practise, — that 
serpents  of  some  kinds  are  charmed,  or  rendered 
quiet  by  music  ?  And  so  the  Psalmist  speaks  of 
some  who  would  not  listen  to  advice,  and  who  re- 
sembled a  serpent  whom  the  most  appropriate 
music  could  not  charm.  Query— are  serpents  deaf? 
—E.  T.  S. 

Jet.— In  the  number  of  Science-Gossip  for  this 
month  is  a  paper  by  Mr.  Taylor  on  jet,  in  which  he 
speaks  of  it  as  a  "  pitch  or  gum,"  and  as  "  lumps  of 
resin"  exuding  from  the  trees.  Surely  this  is 
hardly  a  right  description.  It  will  cut  neither  as  a 
gum  nor  resin  in  the  way  of  dissolving  in  any  liquid  ; 
and  on  making  sections  of  it,  the  grain  of  fir-wood 
is  shown  beautifully ;  as  are  also  the  glands  pos- 
sessed by  fir-wood.  So  that  I  conclude  some  of  it, 
if  not  all,  must  have  been  wood.  Further  informa- 
tion as  to  its  being  a  pitch  or  resin  will  oblige 
E.  T.  S. 

Willow  Leaves  for  Yeast. — A  correspondent 
of  the  Journal  of  Agriculture  states  that  the  leaves 
of  the  common  Basket-willow  {Salix  nigra,  Mar- 
shall) make  an  excellent  yeast,  if  treated  in  the 
same  way  as  is  usual  with  hops.  "  The  discovery," 
he  says,  "was  made  in  my  family  last  summer,  and 
after  a  thorough  trial  I  was  convinced  that  there  is 
nothing  equal  to  it,  as  it  _  rises  much  quicker  than 
hops — in  half  the  time, — imparts  none  of  that  hop 
flavour  so  disagreeable  to  some,  and  in  fact  makes 
better  bread  in  every  way.  The  thing  is  well  worthy 
the  attention  of  every  good  housewife;  and  lest 
some  should  hesitate  inconsequence  of  not  knowing 
the  medical  properties  of  the  willow  in  question,  I 
will  add  that  it  is  a  healthful  tonic,  from  which  no 
harm  can  possibly  arise." 

Cleaning  Coral— If  "W.  H.  M."  would  boil 
the  coral  in  milk,  I  think  he  would  succeed  to  his 
satisfaction.  I  have  repeatedly  done  so  with  pieces 
which  I  have  had  for  years,  and  find  they  look  as  well 
as  when  new. — John  M.  Campbell. 

Correction  of  Lenses. — Myself  and  several  of 
my  friends  have  immersion  lenses  of  Gundlach's, 
but  none  of  us  know  how  to  use  the  correcting  ad- 
justment. I  wrote  some  time  ago  to  Mr.  Baker, 
the  agent,  to  inquire,  but  he  could  give  me  no 
specific  directions.  Could  you  or  any  of  your 
readers  inform  me  of  the  correct  way,  or  the  best, 
to  bring  out  the  performance  of  the  glasses?—^.  D. 
Knight. 

Botanical  Exchange  Club  (p.  96).— "W.W.  S." 
The  Editor  of  Science-Gossip  is  supposed  to  be 
omniscient.  There  is  a  Botanical  Exchange  Club, 
and  a  very  good  thing  too.  Curator,  Dr.  J.  Bos- 
well-Syme  ;  Secretaries,  Mr.  Baker  and  Dr.  Trimen, 


either  of  whom  will  give  "  W.  W.  S."  all  needful 
information. — A  Member  of  B.  E.  C. 

Borax  and  Cockroaches.  —  It  may  not  be 
generally  known  how  very  valuable  borax  is  in 
various  purposes  of  household  use.  It  is  the  very 
best  cockroach-exterminator  yet  discovered.  One 
half-pound  has  completely  cleared  a  large  house, 
formerly  swarming  with  them,  so  that  the  appear- 
ance of  one  in  a  month  is  quite  a  novelty.  The 
various  exterminating  powders  puffed  and  adver- 
tised have  been  found  not  fully  effective,  tending 
rather  to  stupefy  the  cockroaches  than  to  kill  them. 
There  is  something  peculiar,  either  in  the  smell  or 
touch  of  borax,  which  is  certain  death  to  them. 
They  will  flee  in  terror  from  it,  and  never  appear 
again  where  it  has  once  been  placed.  It  is  also  a 
great  advantage  that  borax  is  perfectly  harmless  to 
human  beings ;  hence  no  danger  from  poisoning. — 
Journal  of  Applied  Science. 

The  Pineapple.— The  date  of  the  introduction 
of  the  Pineapple  to  this  country  should  be  placed, 
I  think,  at  least  a  century  earlier  than  that  assigned 
to  it  by  the  author  of  the"Eruits  of  Great  Britain," 
quoted  in  the  April  number  of  Science-Gossip  ; 
for  this  reason,  that  in  1575  a  worthy  gentleman, 
whom  (for  more  or  less  sufficient  reasons)  I  am 
pleased  to  consider  an  ancestor  of  mine,  assumed 
with  the  authority  of  the  Heralds'  College,  a  coat  of 
arms,  with  chevron  and  birds  blue,  and  all  the  rest 
of  it,  with  a  crest,  "a  raven's  head  couped  vert, 
wings  displayed,"  &c.,  and  "  in  the  beak  a  slip  of  two 
pineapples  gules."  The  excellent  knight  who  re- 
ceived all  this  honour  resided  at  Christ  Church, 
Hampshire,  and  it  may  be  permitted  to  suppose 
that  he  was  one  of  those  who,  in  that  age  of  enter- 
prise, distinguished  themselves  by  roaming  the 
world  in  search  of  wonders,  as  gallant  mariners,  or 
as  buccaneers;  and  that  to  him  belongs  the  merit, 
if  not  the  fame,  of  the  first  bringing  to  this  country 
of  this  most  luscious  of  tropical  fruits.  There  is 
one  difficulty,  however,  in  this,  and  on  the  very 
face  of  it  (as  you  will  see  by  the  enclosed  stamp), 
that  the  mode  of  growth  seems  to  have  been  quite 
misunderstood,  for  the  fruit  is  drawn  as  though  it 
were  gathered  from  a  tree  bearing  some  British 
pippin.  Yet,  perhaps,  even  this  mistake  (which  I 
hope  is  due  to  the  draughtsman  at  the  Heralds' 
College)  may  help  to  explain  why  the  name  of  apple 
was  given  to  a  fruit  in  form,  in  flavour,  and  in 
growth,  so  utterly  dissimilar.  Respect  for  the 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  prevents  my  signing 
myself  more  fully  than—  M.  Q.  M.  C. 

Sounding  Lead  (vol.  vi.  p.  189). — Under  this 
heading  "  C.  L.  J."  asks  for  a  description  of  some 
sort  of  plummet,  or  small  drag,  which  will  bring 
up  specimens  of  diatoms,  foraminifera,  &c,  from 
considerable  depths  of  water,  without  the  use  of 
tallow.  I  think  1  can  suggest  a  kind  of  plummet 
which  may  be  found  useful,  though  I  have  never 
tried  it.  My  plan  is  this : — Cast  a  leaden  plummet 
of  an  obovate,  or  inverted  pear-shape,  adding  a  ring 
large  enough  to  have  a  strong  cord  attached  to  it. 
Near  the  point  bore  two  or  three  holes  in  a  down- 
ward direction,  so  as  to  form  as  many  cells  in  the 
lower  part  of  the  plummet,  or  the  holes  might  be 
bored  until  they  meet,  and  form  a  large  cavity. 
If  this  plummet  be  dropped,  and  the  line  allowed 
to  run  out  rapidly,  the  point  will  sink  in  the  sand 
or  mud,  and  on  hauling  it  up  the  cavities  will  be 
found  to  be  full—  A.  H.  A. 


118 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


The  Lotus. — Is  there  any  plant  in  India  to 
which  this  name  can  be  applied  ?  In  one  of  Mil- 
man's  translations  of  Sanscrit  poetry  a  beautiful 
lake  is  described  as  "  fragrant  with  the  lotus- 
flowers."— A.  H.  A. 

Cleaning  Shells. — In  the  number  for  October, 
]S69,  a  correspondent  asks  for  some  method  of 
removing  the  outer  coating  of  shells.  By  using 
muriatic  acid,  the  outer  coating  can  easily  be  got  rid 
of,  and  then  the  shell  may  be  polished.  In  this  way, 
I  believe,  the  beautiful  Cingalese  Haliotides  are 
polished,  and  by  employing  this  method,  the  com- 
mon black  mussels  become  handsome  purple  shells. 
—A.  H.  A. 

Curious  Friends.— On  the  farm  where  I  am  at 
present  visiting  there  is  a  curious  alliance  existing 
between  a  gander  and  an  old  mare  pony.  If  not  shut 
up  they  are  invariably  together  in  the  fields,  and 
their  heads  may  be  often  seen  in  close  proximity, 
the  gander  rubbing  his  beak  against  the  pony's 
head  in  the  fondest  manner. — E.  P.  B. 

Singular  Freak  oe  Nature.— Under  this 
heading  the  Bowdon  Guardian  states  that  in  March 
a  Dorking  hen,  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Perkin,  of 
Sharston,  Cheshire,  laid  an  egg  weighing  nearly  six 
ounces.  When  broken  open  a  perfectly  shelled  egg 
of  the  ordinary  size  was  found  inside. — G.  H.  H. 

Luminous  Fungi.— Two  years  ago  I  had  some 
specimens  of  luminous  fungi  sent  to  me  from  the 
Cardiff  coal-mines  ;  they  were  parasitic  ou  the 
shoring  timbers,  and  both  fungi  and  mycelium  were 
phosphorescent.  The  colliers  in  the  coal-mines  of 
the  western  boundary  of  Glamorganshire  and 
adjoining  Caermarthenshire  are  well  acquainted  with 
these  phosphorescent  fungi,  and  the  men  state  that 
it  gives  sufficient  light  to  "  see  their  hands  by."  In 
another  coal-mine  seven  miles  north  of  Cardiff 
some  colliers  told  Mr.  William  Adams  that_  they 
had  seen  lights  on  the  timber  when  travelling  in  the 
dark,  and  one  of  them  said  he  was  much  frightened 
the  first  time  he  saw  it.  The  luminous  fungi  sent 
to  me  from  these  mines  were  specimens  of  Poly- 
porus  annosus,  Fr.,  and  they  could  be  seen  in  the 
dark  at  a  distance  of  twenty  yards.  I  have  also 
seen  Polyporus  sulfureus,  Fr.,  phosphorescent,  and 
Mr.  Broome  has  met  with  a  luminous  Corticium.  I 
have  heard  that  C.  cmrulemn,  Fr.,  is  sometimes 
luminous.  Berkeley  says  that  Agaricus  [Crepi- 
dotus)  olearius,  Fr.,  a  parasite  of  olive  trees,  is 
sometimes  so  luminous  in  the  South  of  France  that 
letters  may  be  distinguished  by  its  light.  A  short 
time  since  I  had  a  dried  agaric  (probably  a  Collybia) 
given  me  through  Professor  Church,  of  Cirencester, 
which  was  phosphorescent  when  gathered  ;  it  came 
from  a  cellar  in  Oxford-street.  The  luminous  fungus 
referred  to  in  the  March  number  of  Science-Gossip 
seems  to  be  the  same  with  Agaricus  Gardneri,  Berk., 
an  interesting  account  of  which  was  laid  before  the 
Linnean  Society  in  1869,  in  a  letter  from  Mr.  Collin- 
wood.  The  writer  stated  that  this  species  in  Borneo 
could  be  distinctly  seen  in  the  dark,  shining  with  a 
soft  pale-greenish  light ;  the  older  specimens  were 
describedas  possessing  a  greenish  luminous  glow,  like 
the  glow  of  the  electric  discharge.  The  mycelium  of 
this  species,  like  the  mycelium  of  Polyporus  annosus, 
Fr.,  mentioned  above,  was  lumiuous.  It  was  stated 
that  Mr.  Hugh  Low  had  once  seen  the  jungle  all 
in  a  blaze  of  light,  by  which  he  could  see  to 
read  as  he   was   riding  across   the  island   by  the 


jungle  road.  Several  other  species  are  mentioned 
as  phosphorescent  in  Berkeley's  "  Introduction  to 
Cryptogamic  Botany,"  p.  265.  I  have  several 
times  observed  flowers  to  be  luminous,  especially 
during  certain  atmospheric  conditions  in  mid- 
summer ;  such  instances  as  the  luminosity  of  stale 
fish,  potatoes,  &c,  are  of  course  known  to  every 
one.  A  year  or  two  ago,  when  returning  home 
through  Epping  Forest  at  night,  after  a  long  day's 
excursion,  I  saw  a  very  luminous  object  on  the 
grouud  in  the  distance ;  on  nearing  it  I  found  it 
to  be  a  dead  rat,  which  I  brought  home  in  my 
vasculum,  and  laid  on  the  garden  bed,  where  it 
preserved  its  luminosity  for  several  nights. — Wor- 
thington  G.  Smith. 

Earthworms. — My  garden,  which,  like  all  subur- 
ban little  plots,  is  a  great  pleasure  to  me,  consists  of 
light  soil,  and  is  by  no  means  of  that  damp  and 
clayey  nature  that  is  usual  in  this  neighbourhood. 
I  have  always  understood  worms  are  never  found  in 
any  number,  except  where  there  is  much  damp, 
and  that  puzzles  me  extremely,  for  the  whole  of  my 
garden  is  one  mass  of  what  the  gardener  calls 
"  worm  casts."  Even  the  gravel-walks  are  full,  and 
as  to  the  lawn,  it  seems  impossible  even  to  fit  it  for 
croquet.  A  great  part  of  the  ground  has  been 
deeply  trenched,  and  yet,  in  a  few  days  after  that 
operation,  the  soil  is  again  disfigured  with  these 
unsightly  prominences.  The  roots  of  my  flowers 
are  disturbed,  my  newly  springing-up  patches  of 
flower-seeds  scattered  about ;  in  fact,  I  am  an- 
noyed beyond  description.  I  am  told  that  these 
"  casts  "  are  the  "  rejectamenta  "  of  worms,  and 
that  the  earth  is  quite  deprived  of  its  nutritive 
powers.  It  is  a  hard  mass,  quite  unlike  the  fine 
earth  that  a  mole  turns  up.  I  have  looked  early 
and  late,  but  can  scarcely  ever  see  a  worm  above 
ground ;  and  what  is  more  puzzling,  in  digging  they 
do  not  seem  numerous,  for  I  have  carefully  watched 
the  man  whilst  so  occupied.  Now,  I  should  like 
some  of  your  kind  correspondents  to  enlighten  me 
on  some  points.  Does  the  abundance  of  these 
creatures  denote  a  very  damp  subsoil  ?  Will  it  be 
wise  to  try  to  destroy  them  by  some  means ;  and  if 
so,  by  what  ?  In  such  numbers  as  they  are,  on 
what  do  they  live  ?  Will  not  my  garden  become 
quite  barren  if  these  increase  much  more  ?  In  fact, 
any  useful  information,  either  as  to  what  I  am  or 
am  not  to  do,  to  prevent  this  sad  disfigurement  of 
my  flower  borders  and  kitchen  garden,  I  shall  be 
most  grateful  to  receive.  It  will  not  be  the  first 
time  that  I  have  learned  very  practical  wisdom 
from  Science-Gossip. — //.  E.  Wilkinson,  Penge. 

The  Periwinkle  and  its  Shell.  —  Iu  your 
last  number  appears  a  paragraph  uuder  the  above 
heading,  signed  "A.  E.  Murray,"  describing  how  the 
Periwinkle  repaired  an  accidental  injury  to  its  shell, 
and  suggesting  that  perhaps  other  mollusks  have 
the  same  power.  I  beg  to  say  that  such  power  is 
possessed  by  all  mollusks,  aud  I  have  in  my  collec- 
tion many  specimens  of  both  land  and  marine  shells, 
showiug  most  distinctly  the  new  shell,  or  rather  the 
old  shell  repaired,  by  the  reproduction  from  the 
margin  of  the  outer  layer  ;  but  if  the  apex  of  the 
shell  be  injured,  or  destroyed,  or  a  hole  perforated 
by  worms  or  other  parasites,  the  aperture  will 
merely  be  closed  with  the  material  secreted  by  the 
mantle  of  the  animal.  There  is  in  the  British 
Museum  a  special  case,  showing  many  interesting 
specimens  of  this  power  of  the  mollusk. —  E.  S. 
Biden,  Kensington. 


HABDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


119 


Name  of  the  Earwig  (p.  94). — I  believe  that 
the  origin  of  the  name  in  question  could  not  have 
been  the  wing  of  the  insect;  appropriate  as  the 
appellation  may  seem  to  us,  it  is  too  much  like  an 
afterthought ;  nor  is  "  earwing  "  very  likely  to  be 
corrupted  into  "earwig."  At  the  time  when  it 
was  first  applied  to  the  insect  science  was  in  its 
infancy,  nor  is  it  very  probable  that  the  structure 
in  question  had  been  examined,  and  its  resemblance 
in  shape  to  the  human  ear  noted.  Our  English 
name  is  but  the  equivalent  of  the  Continental  ones 
quoted;  the  second  syllable  (from  the  Saxon  rigga, 
says  Johnson)  meaning  to  "bore,"  or  "pierce,"  or, 
perhaps,  to  enter  surreptitiously.  Hence  a  med- 
dling, intrusive  person  was  formerly  called  an 
"earwig;"  and  we  even  _  now  speak  of  "ear- 
wigging"  any  one — that  is,  conveying  our  own 
version  of  some  incident  privately,  by  way  of  antici- 
pation lest  a  less  favourable  one  subsequently 
present  itself.—/.  B.  S.  C. 

Virtues  of  Gentian  (p.  91).— Does  B.  T.  wish 
to  know  whether  there  is  any  English  name  corre- 
sponding to  that  he  cites  as  applied  to  the  gentian  ; 
or  does  he  inquire  whether  allied  or  similar  plants 
are  thus  used  in  England  on  account  of  their  bitter 
virtues?  I  do  not  think  any  such  name  is  applied 
to  the  species  of  gentian  which  occur  in  Britain. 
No  doubt  the  one  Linnseus  speaks  of  is  Gentiana 
lutea,  the  source  of  much  of  the  gentian  root  of 
commerce,  and  which  is  partial  to  mountainous 
districts  in  Central  and  Northern  Europe.  We 
have  five  native  species  of  gentian,  one  of  which  is 
perhaps  doubtful  (G.  nivalis).  The  commonest  is 
the  autumnal  gentian  (G.  campestris),  growing 
usually  on  the  chalk  or  limestone.  These  do  not 
appear  to  have  been  honoured  by  a  place  in  our 
rustic  materia  medica.  The  Buckbean  {Menyanthis 
trifoliata)  of  the  same  natural  order,  is  as  bitter  as 
its  relatives,  and  this  has  often  been  used  as  atonic  ; 
and  even,  according  to  Withering,  as  a  substitute 
for  hops  in  brewing.  The  less  frequent  plant, 
called  the  Yellow  Buckbean  (Villarsia  nymphceoides) 
has  similar  characteristics.  Our  native  species  of 
the  genus  Erythraa  also  contain  a  bitter  principle, 
especially  Centaurium,  popularly  known  as  the  Bed 
Centaury,  and  the  flowers  of  which  are  so  sensitive 
to  atmospheric  changes.  This  is  supposed  to  be 
the  Kentaurion  micron  of  Dioscorides,  also  called, 
says  Hallir,  "  fall  of  the  earth "  by  some  ancient 
nations,  on  account  of  its  flavour.  This  quality  is 
distributed  through  all  parts  of  the  plant,  though 
least  in  the  flowers.  We  have  three  other  Bry- 
thrceas,  which  are  little  noticed  coast  species,  and 
also  bitter.—/.  B.  S.  C. 

Pedicellarmi  of  Starfish.— In  the  February 
No.  of  Science-Gossip  (which  I  have  only  just 
seen),  Mr.  P.  H.  Gosse  makes  some  remarks  con- 
cerning my  suggestions  in  reference  to  the  above, 
which  I  consider  quite  uncalled  for.  Supposing  my 
remarks  have  been  anticipated,  they  might  still  be 
interesting  to  readers  who,  like  myself,  have  not  all 
Mr.  Gosse's  interesting  books  at  hand.  I  can  only 
say,  respecting  the  last  part  of  Mr.  Gosse's  note,  in 
which  he  seems  to  accuse  me  of  copying  his  sug- 
gestions and  putting  them  forward  as  my  own,  that 
my  articlewas  perfectly  original,  and  was  written 
after  keeping  the  animals  in  constant  observation 
for  over  twelve  months;  and  also  that  the  only 
book  that  1  referred  to  while  writing  was  Eorbes's 
History.  I  have  since,  however,  borrowed  a  copy 
of  "  Tenby,"  and  have  carefully  read  the  chapters 


on  Pedicellariae  on  the  pages  mentioned  (232—251). 
My  explanation  of  the  use  of  the  Pedicellaria3  was, 
that  the  pincer-iike  forms  holding  the  substances 
attracting  the  infusoria,  &c,  the  latter  might  be 
taken  in  as  food  by  the  "fish-mouths,"  and  this 
idea  occurred  to  me  by  observing  that  the  large 
pincer-like  Pedicellarise  were  always  surrounded  by 
these  other  forms.  Now,  I  cannot  understand  how 
Mr.  Gossc  can  accuse  me  of  copying  his  remarks, 
seeing  that  that  gentleman  does  not  mention  these 
"  fish-mouths  "  at  all:  he  says  (Tenby,  p.  237),  "  In 
Uraster  rubens  the  Pedicellarice,  or  the  bodies 
which  Professor  Forbes  calls  Spinules,  and  which 
represent^  the  Pedicellaria?  of  the  Echiuida;,  &c, 
are  but  of  one  form ;  "  and  goes  on  to  describe  more 
minutely  the  pincer-like  organs.  It  has  somewhat 
surprised  me  that  the  short  fish-mouth  forms  of 
Pedicellarise  are  not  even  mentioned  by  Mr.  Gosse, 
— at  least,  in  his  "  Tenby  " ;  and  one  would  therefore 
think  that  his  italicised  words,  ''and  a  great  deal 
more,"  were,  at  least,  unnecessary. — Herbert  Ingall. 

Cotssold  Lion.— "Then  will  he  looke  as  fierce 
as  a  Cotssold  Lion." — Boister  Doister  (before  1553, 
Arber,  p.  70).  Can  any  reader  explain  this  expres- 
sion ?—A.T.,  M.A. 

Ornithological  Queries.— What  bird  is  in- 
tended in 

"  The  tatling  Awbc  doth  please  some  fancie  wel, 
And  some  like  best  the  byrde  as  black  as  cole." 

Gascoigne's  Complaynt  of  Philomene  (1576)  ? 

In  Lyly's  "Euphues"  (1579;  Arber's  edition) 
we  have,  p.  45,  "  The  Birde  Taurus  hath  a  great 
voyce,  but  a  smal  body";  in  "Euphues  and  his 
England,"  p.  239,  "  The  Byrde  Acanthis,  who  being 
bredde  in  the  thistles  will  live  in  the  thistles."  In 
a  Sermon  of  Lever's  (same  edition),  p.  56,  the  word 
"puttockes"  twice  occurs:  "The  filthye  gredye 
puttockes,  wylde  hawkes,  and  ravenyng  kytes  be 
supersticious  papistes,  &c."  Are  any  of  these  names 
in  use  now  ?—B.T.,  M.A. 

_  The  Cause  of  Sleep.— Dr.  E.  Sommer  con- 
siders that  sleep  is  the  result  of  a  deo.rygenation  of 
the  organism.  The  blood  and  the  tissues  possess 
the  property  of  storing  up  the  oxygen  inhaled,  and 
then  supplying  it  in  proportion  to  the  requirements 
of  the  economy.  When  this  store  of  oxygen  is 
exhausted,  or  even  becomes  too  small,  it  no  longer 
suffices  to  sustain  the  vital  activity  of  the  organs, 
the  brain,  nervous  system,  muscles,  &c,  and  the 
body  falls  into  that  particular  state  which  we  call 
sleep.  During  the  continuation  of  this  deep  repose, 
fresh  quantities  of  oxygen  are  being  stored  up  in 
the  blood,  to  act  as  a  supply  to  the  awakened  vital 
powers.  Best  produces,  though  in  a  less  degree, 
the  same  effect  as  sleep  in  reducing  the  expenditure 
of  oxygen. 

Picris  Broom-rape. — This  parasite,  so  abundant 
in  the  hedgerows  and  clover  fields  of  Dorset,  has, 
from  mixing  of  soils  or  some  other  causes,  found 
its  way  into  the  greenhouse.  Thus  we  have  had  it 
occur  on  pelargoniums,  lobelia,  &c.  During  the 
past  winter  a  plant  came  up  on  a  fuchsia  in  a 
cottage  window  of  rny  parish.  It  has  just  died 
down,  but  it  is  remarkable  for  the  wide  range  of 
plauts  which  it  affects,  for  its  rapid  spread  for  the 
last  few  years,  as  also,  in  this  case,  for  the  odd 
time  of  its  appearance,  growing,  as  it  did,  upon  the 
fuchsia  before  that  plant  had  burst  into  leaf. — 
/.  B .,  Bradford  Abbas. 


120 


HAIIDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 

Am.  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  be 
addressed  to  the  Pdbushbr.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccaddly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  can  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer,  not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History',  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term  ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  them.  We  do  not 
undertake  to  return  rejected  manuscripts  unless  sufficient 
stamps  are  enclosed  to  cover  the  return  postage.  Neither 
can  we  promise  to  refer  to  or  return  any  manuscript  after 
one  month  from  the  date  of  its  receipt.  All  microscopical 
drawings  intended  for  publication  should  have  annexed 
thereto  the  powers  employed,  or  the  extent  of  enlargement, 
indicated  in  diameters  (thus  :  x  320  diameters).  Communi- 
cations intended  for  publication  should  be  written  on  one 
side  of  the  paper  only,  and  all  scientificnames.andnames  of 
places  and  individuals,  should  be  as  legible  as  possible. 
Wherever  scientific  names  or  technicalities  are  employed,  it 
is  hoped  that  the  common  names  will  accompany  them. 
Lists  or  tables  are  inadmissible  under  any  circumstances. 
Those  of  the  popular  names  of  British  plants  and  animals 
are  retained  and  registered  for  publication  when  suffi- 
ciently complete  for  that  purpose,  in  whatever  form  may 
then  be  decided  upon.  Address.  No.  192,  Piccadilly, 
London,  W. 

E.  F.  E.,  E.  B.  — The  "Handbook  of  British  Fungi,"  Part 
II.,  has  been  delayed  on  account  of  the  increased  number  of 
woodcuts.  All  is  now  in  type,  except  the  Indices,  and  it  will 
be  issued  as  speedily  as  possible. 

J.  B.,  L.-We  have  no  knowledge  cf  the  progress  of  Dr. 
Carrington's  "British  Hepaticaj." 

W.  B.  F.— Your  remarks  about  the  "  Descent  of  Man"  do 
not  take  the  form  of  argument.  Of  course  we  cannot  insert 
rhapsodies.  As  to  the  hawk,  catch  it,  and  then  name  it.  We 
are  no  advocates  of  "guessing"  in  Natural  History. 

E.  C.  J. — We  have  not,  and  have  not  had,  crayfish  for  dis- 
tribution, therefore  you  must  have  fallen  into  error. 

G.  M.  G. — No  exchanges  should  be  expected  to  hold  good 
after  the  current  month. 

R.  D.— It  is  difficult  to  discover  how  you  can  ever  learn  to 
name  mosses  for  yourself,  or  know  more  than  a  parrot  about 
them,  it  you  send  us  all  your  specimens  to  name  for  you.  It 
is  a  kindness  to  help  an  amateur  who  tries  to  help  himself, 
hut  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  our  offices,  and  those 
of  our  coadjutors,  are  at  the  periodical  service  of  those  who 
are  too  idle  to  work  out  their  own  problems.  This  reply  is 
needed  by  others  equally  with  the  owner  of  the  above  initials. 

L.  M.  C— Pale-coloured  cockroaches  and  earwigs  are  only 
early  conditions;  in  time  they  assume  their  orthodox  tint. 

C.  B.—  A  is  a  common  lichen,  Peltidea  canina;  B  also  a 
lichen,  Ramalina  calicaris  ;  C  a  sea-weed,  Corallina  officina- 
lis; V  is  Membranipora  pilosa  on  sea-weed. 

E.  W.— "  Ferns,  British  and  Foreign,''  by  Smith,  would 
doubtless  suit  your  purpose. 

J.  L.  P.— If  you  capture  and  send  one  of  the  insects  we  will 
name  it  for  you,  but  we  do  not  guess. 

G.  S.  S.— 1.  Yes.  2.  Yes.  3.  No;  Trifolium  liybridum. 
4.  Notnecessarily.it  is  Lepidium  ruderale.     5.  Yes. — B. 

M.  D.  P.  — Pigeons  of  course.  Read  a  good  history  of  birds. 
It  will  be  entertaining,  and  you  seem  to  require  the  informa- 
tion it  would  afford.  What  do  you  mean  by  "  English  Hum- 
ming Bird"?  You  must  go  to  warmer  countries,  even  than 
Torquay,  for  Humming  Birds. 

A.  N.— What  do  you  mean  by  the  "Musk"?  and  by  "Elec- 
tric Water"?  The  ermine  is  the  winter  condition  of  the 
Stoat,  which  is  common  enough  in  England. 

W.  J.— Sometimes  cartridge  paper,  sometimes  writing 
paper,  quality  and  size  according  to  taste.  Try  half  sheets  of 
demy  cartridge,  or  if  too  lang,  cut  shorter  to  suit  you. 

C.  P.  C— Unfortunately  there  is  no  good  work  on  "  Roti- 
fers "  at  a  moderate  price.  Pritchard's  •'  Infusoria"  is  the 
best  work  we  could  recommend  you,  as  including  the  Roti- 
fers with  descriptions  and  numerous  figures.  No  details 
have  yet  been  published  for  examining  the  lung  of  the  living 
frog. 


W.   F.  A. — Didymium  cinereum. 
specimens  you  offer. 

H.  J.  I. — Polyporus  versicolor,  Fr. 


Should  be  glad  of  the 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice. — Only  one  "  Exchange  "  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Brita'n)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Collomia  Seeds  (for  showing  spiral  fibres  in  section), 
winged  seeds  of  Paulownia  and  Lophospermum.— Any  good 
material  or  slide  to  H.  Wills,  Dorset  Bank,  Warminster. 

Placodium  pulgens  and  Trichostornum  convolutnm, 
offered  in  exchange  for  other  rare  lichens  or  mosses  ;  send 
lists  to  R.  V.  T.(  Withiel,  Bodmin,  Cornwall. 

Wanted,  an  Amphipleura  pellucida  on  which  markings  are 
visible  with  any  power.— Lieutenant  J.  C.  Greene,  Fort  Brock- 
hurst,  Gosport,  Hants. 

Cuticle  of  Equisetum,  Flustra  avicularis,  and  (or)  Rhino- 
ceros Horn,  wanted  (mounted  or  not)  for  good  list.— C  D.f 
187,  Oxford  Street,  Mile  End,  E. 

Anacharis  prepared  for  polariscope,  and  several  species  of 
Sphagnum  offered  for  slamped  address,  and  any  object  of 
interest;  especially  Deutzia  scabra.  —  Benj.  Bellingham, 
Round  Oak,  Brierley  Hill. 

Biscuit  Weevils  for  mounted  microscopic  objects  or  water- 
plants.— Wr.  L.  W.,  7,  Victoria  Street,  Cambridge. 

Twelve  varieties  of  wood  sections  offered  for  two  good 
slides.  Diatoms  preferred.— J.  Sargent,  Jun.,  Fritchley,  near 
Derby. 

Pupje  of  Melitaa  cin.ria  (immediately),  imagos  at  the  end 
of  the  month,  for  any  local  larva;,  pupae,  or  imagos.— W.  Jor- 
dan, Binstead,  Ryde,  Isle  of  Wright. 

Thirty  characteristic  animal  hairs  for  other  good  material, 
seeds  excepted.— E.  J.  Wilson,  43,  Upper  Cumming  Street, 
Pentonville,  N. 

Chara  or  Niteli.a. — Living  plants  wanted ;  arrangements 
by  letter.— Address  E.  W.,  care  of  the  Editor  of  S.-G. 

Volvox  olobator  wanted  in  some  quantity,  as  collected. 
Compensation  will  be  offered. — Address  F.  E.,  care  of  Editor 
of  S.-G. 

Slides  of  diatoms  for  exchange  for  other  slides  of  interest- 
ing objects.— Apply  to  F.  Lazenby,  Sarum  Villas,  Basingstoke. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"The  Popular  Science  Review."  April,  1871.  London: 
Robert  Hardwicke. 

"The  Chemical  News."    No.  5<)2.    March  31, 18/1. 

"The  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal."  No.  28.  April, 
1871.     London:  Robert  Hardw'cke. 

"  The  Scottish  Naturalist."  No.  2.  April,  18/1.  Perth: 
Society  of  Natural  Science. 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Bristol  Naturalists'  Society."  Vol.  V. 
1870. 

"  Archives  of  Science  and  Transactions  of  the  Orleans 
County  Society  of  Natural  Sciences."    No.  2.    January,  1871. 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Lyceum  of  Natural  History,  New 
York." 

"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  271,  272,  273,  274. 

"The  Journal  of  Applied  Science."    April,  1871. 

"  The  Animal  World,"  for  April,  1871. 

"The  Gardener's  Magazine,"  for  April,  1871. 

"  West  Kent  Natural  History,  Microscopical,  and  Photo- 
graphic Society,  the  President's  Address  and  Reports,"  for 
1870.     Greenwich. 

"  Prospectus  of  the  South  London  Microscopical  and 
Natural  History  Club."  Hon.  Sec,  F.  Hovenden,  63,  Angeil 
Road,  Brixton. 

"Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."    April,  1871. 

"American  Naturalist."    March  and  April,  1871. 

"Illustrated  Natural  History  of  British  Butterflies,"  by 
Edward  Newman,  F.L.S.,  F.Z.S.,  &c.    London  :  Tweedie. 

"Saturday  Afternoon  Rambles  round  London,  Rural  and 
Geological  Sketches,"  by  Henry  Walker.  London:  Hodder 
it  Stoughton. 

Communications  Received.— H.  E.  W. — M.  Q.  M.  C. — 
J.  H.,  Jun.  A.  H.  A.— E.  P.  P.— B.  E.  C— E.  H.— E.  V.  E.— 
J.  M.  C-S.  G.— E.  C.  J. -J.  B.— R.  D.  K.-G.— T.  R.- 
E  W.— R.  H.  W.-  W.  B.  F.— E.  D.  M.— J.  B.— K.  L.— 
H.  C.  R.— J.  B.— G.  M.  G.-E.  W— H.  W.  L.— R.  E.— 
L.  M.  C.-T.  Q.  C.-C.  J.  W.  R.-E.  T.  S.-S.  S.— J.  H  — 
J.  C.  D.— W.  F.  H.— C.  B.— R.  V.  T.— J.  C.  G.-G.  H.  S.— 
G.  S.  S.— J.  R.  B.  M.-A.  B.— R.  B -J.  R.  S.  C—  R.  T., 
31. A.— W.  F.  A.— E.  P.  B.— H.  I.— E.  J.  Wr.-T.  R.-C.  P.  C. 

-  M.  H.  C— J.  B.— W.  J.— J.  M.— W.  K.  S.— A.  E.— W.  G.  S. 

—  B.— J.  S.,  Jun.-W.  L.  W.— B.  B.-H.  J.  I.— J.  C— A.  N.— 
C.  D.-E.  B.— G.  H.  H.— M.  D.  P.-H.  E.  W— J.  L.  P. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIE.NCE-GOSSIF. 


121 


LUMINOUS    PLANTS. 


"  'Tis  said  in  Summer's  evening  hour, 
Flashes  the  golden-coloured  flower, 
A  fair  electric  flame." 

Coleridge. 


'HERE  are  some  of 
the  phenomena  of 
life  which  are  so 
startling  in  their 
character  that  they 
cannot  fail  to  at- 
tract attention, 
even  amongst  the 
unlearned.  Of  such 
is  the  emission  of 
insects  and  plants ; 
ly  in  countries  where 
light  are  held  to  be 
more  or  less  divine,  and  the 
object  of  adoration,  we  may 
anticipate  that  such  pheno- 
mena are  regarded  with  pecu- 
Wj&0%Q  4ft  nar  interest.  It  is  so  in  India, 
where  the  idea  that  some 
plants,  under  favourable  con- 
ditions, evolve  light,  has  firm 
possession  of  the  minds  of  the 
inhabitants.  That  something 
of  the  kind  has  been  observed, 
only  the  most  sceptical  would 
doubt,  but  it  is  equally  probable  that  exaggeration 
has  lent  something  to  the  reports.  The  prevalence 
of  this  idea  in  India  long  since  was  noticed  by 
Major  Madden  in  one  of  the  Indian  horticultural 
journals,  when  he  stated  that  "vague  ideas  of  the 
existence  of  luminous  plants  in  India  and  the  neigh- 
bouring' countries,  still  float  about,  as  in  the  days  of 
the  old  Hindoos  and  Greeks."  The  major  gave  in- 
stances, of  which  some  probably  had  their  foundation 
in  fact.  It  is  not  that  we  place  implicit  reliance  on 
all  that  we  read  on  this  subject,  that  we  are  induced 
to  allude  to  some  recorded  instances,  but  rather 
with  the  view  of  collecting  together  some  of  the 
gossip  on  the  subject. 
No.  78. 


If  we  refer  to  No.  153  of  the  "Journal  of  the 
Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,"  we  find  it  there  re- 
corded that  in  Affghanistan,  "  to  the  north  of 
Nahoo,  is  a  mountain  called  Sufed  Koh,  in  which 
the  natives  believe  gold  and  silver  to  exist,  and  in 
which  they  say,  in  the  spring,  is  a  bush  which  at 
night,  from  a  distance  appears  on  fire,  but  on  ap- 
proaching it  the  delusion  vanishes."  It  is  very  pro- 
bable in  this  instance  that  the  belief  is  based  on 
vague  report. 

Baron  Hugel's  name  is  well  known  in  connection 
with  Kashmere,  and,  as  a  naturalist,  his  evidence,  if 
positive,  would  be  accepted  with  respect.  But  again 
only  report  is  cited,  for  the  Baron  says  that  he  was 
told  that  the  Auk  River,  when  swollen  with  rain, 
brings  down  from  Thibet  pieces  of  timber  which 
"shine  in  the  dark  as  long  as  they  continue  moist." 
The  phosphorescence  of  decaying  wood  is  nothing 
new,  and  it  is  probable  that  this  is  attributable  to  the 
same  cause.  Schoolboys  did  believe  in  the  phos- 
phorescence of  "  touchwood  "  many  years  ago,  and 
probably  do  so  now.  In  those  days  we  have  recol- 
lections of  carrying  such  treasures  in  our  pocket  for 
practical  illustration  in  the  dormitory  at  night. 

Of  a  somewhat  different  character  was  the  sub- 
stance exhibited  in  April,  1S45,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Royal  Asiatic  Society.  It  was  the  rootstock  of  a 
plant  from  the  Ooraghum  jungles,  at  the  foot  of 
the  Madura  Hills,  near  Tuchoor,  and  was  supposed 
to  belong  to  some  species  of  Orchis  or  Ilarica.  It 
was  said  of  it  that  it  possessed  the  peculiar  property 
of  regaining  its  phosphorescent  appearance  when  a 
dried  fragment  of  it  was  subjected  to  moisture, 
"gleaming  in  the  dark  with  all  the  vividness  of  the 
Glow-worm,  or  the  electric  Scolopendra,  after  having 
been  moistened  with  a  wet  cloth  applied  to  its  sur- 
face for  an  hour  or  two ;  and  it  did  not  seem  to  lose 
the  property  by  use,  becoming  lustreless  when  dry, 
and  lighting  up  again  whenever  moistened."    The 

G 


122 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Gardener's  Chronicle  stated  at  the  time,  that  "a 
small  slice  of  the  dried  root  being  wrapped  in  a  wet 
cloth,  and  allowed  to  remain  about  an  hour,  shines 
in  the  dark  like  a  piece  of  phosphorus,  or  perhaps 
somewhat  paler,  more  like  dead  fish,  or  rotten  wood." 

Accompanying  this  account  in  an  Indian  journal, 
is  the  statement  that  this  plant  has  long  been  fami- 
liar to  the  Brahmins  under  the  name  of  Jyotismati, 
and  "  is  occasionally  referred  to  a  species  of  Cardio- 
spermum,  perhaps  on  account  of- the  white  crescent 
on  the  black  seed  of  that  plant."  The  discovery  of 
the  Coromandel  plant  was  made,  it  is  said,  by  a 
tuhseeldar,  compelled  by  rain  to  take  shelter  at 
night  under  a  mass  of  rock,  where  he  was  astonished 
to  see  a  blaze  of  phosphoric  light  over  all  the  grass 
in  the  vicinity." 

Sanscrit  authorities  refer  the  Jyotismati  to  the 
Himalayas,  and  Major  Madden  found,  upon  inquiry 
at  Almora,  that  there  was  a  luminous  plant  well 
known  there  by  that  name  and  Jwalla-mat,  implying 
the  possession  of  light  or  fire.  This  plant  proved  to 
be  the  Anthistiria  anatliera,  of  which  perhaps  one 
root  in  a  hundred  is  said  to  be  luminous  at  night 
during  the  rainy  season.  Other  grasses,  species  of 
Andropogon  are  reported  to  possess  the  same  pro- 
perty, and  both  Hindoos  and  Moslems  are  persuaded 
of  the  existence  of  a  plant  called  Sunee,  extolled  for 
its  power  of  revealing  the  wonders  of  fairy-laud ; 
and  eagerly  sought  by  fakeers  and  serpents. 

In  1845  the  natives  of  Simla  were  filled  with  a 
rumour  that  the  mountains  near  Syree  were  illu- 
minated nightly  by  some  magical  herb. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  some  of  these  reports 
may  be  traced  to  a  species  of  Dictamnus,  as  there  is 
one  which  is  very  closely  allied  to  the  European 
form  (the  Dictamnus  Himaleyensis  of  Royle)  which 
abounds  near  Gungotree  aud  Jumnotree.  If  the 
Indian  species  really  possesses  the  power  of  exhibit- 
ing itself  in  the  manner  of  its  European  relative,  it 
is  not  at  all  surprising  that  the  natives  should  spread 
its  fame  as  that  of  a  bush  ever  burning,  but  never 
consumed. 

Apropos  of  the  European  Dittany  {Dictamnus 
fraxinella),  the  late  Professor  Henslow  explained 
the  inflammable  atmosphere  generated  about  it,  on 
a  calm  still  evening,  as  the  evaporation  of  a  volatile 
oil,  and  adds  that  "  if  a  candle  be  brought  near  it, 
this  plant  is  enveloped  by  a  transient  flame,  without 
sustaining  injury." 

Eire  is  said  to  be  latent  in  the  "  Summee,"  which 
is  supposed  to  be  Prosopis  spicigcra,  the  Jhund  of 
Northern  India.  It  may  be  that  only  such  latent 
fire  is  alluded  to  as  may  be  obtained  by  friction. 

The  English  translation  of  the  Ulfaz  Udwiyeh 
gives  Siraj-ul-kootrub  as  "the  fairy's  lamp — a  plant 
which  shines  at  night  like  the  glow-worm." 

Another  plant  which  has  obtained  the  reputation 
of  being  luminous,  is  the  Tuberose  [Polianthes  tube- 
rosa).    It  has  been  observed,  so  it  is  said,  of  a  sul- 


try evening  after  thunder,  to  dart  small  sparks  in 
great  abundance  from  such  of  its  flowers  as  were 
fading.  The  rare  occasion  when  fading  flowers,  a 
thunderstorm,  and  an  observer,  meet  together  for 
such  an  exhibition,  must  be  some  apology  for  the 
doubt  which  may  be  entertained  as  to  the  speedy 
verification  of  the  facts. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  Josephus,  in  his 
"Wars  of  the  Jews"  (book  vii.,  chap,  vi.),  writing 
of  Macherus,  says :  "There  is  a  certain  place  called 
Baaras,  which  produces  a  root  of  the  same  name 
with  itself ;  its  colour  is  like  to  that  of  flame,  and 
towards  evening  it  sends  out  a  certain  ray  like 
lightning  ;  it  is  not  easily  taken  by  such  as  would 
do  it,  but  recedes  from  their  hands."  The  only 
virtue  this  root  possesses  is  its  supposed  power  in 
the  expulsion  of  demons. 

As  to  the  incident  recorded  in  connection  with  the 
Eraxinella,  Dr.  Halm  has  offered  explanations  in  the 
Journal  of  Botany  for  1863.  "  When  the  daughter 
of  Linnseus  one  evening  approached  the  flowers  of 
Dictamnus  albus  with  a  light,  a  little  flame  was 
kindled  without  in  any  way  injuring  them.  The 
experiment  was  afterwards  frequently  repeated,  but 
it  never  succeeded  ;  and  whilst  some  scientific  men 
regarded  the  whole  as  a  faulty  observation  or  simply 
a  delusion,  others  endeavoured  to  explain  it  by 
various  hypotheses.  One  of  them  especially,  which 
tried  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  by  assuming 
that  the  plant  developed  hydrogen,  found  much 
favour.  At  present,  when  this  hypothesis  has  be- 
come untenable,  the  inflammability  of  the  plant  is 
mentioned  more  as  a  curiosum,  and  accounted  for 
by  the  presence  of  etheric  oil  in  the  flowers.  Being 
in  the  habit  of  visiting  a  garden  in  which  strong 
healthy  plants  of  Dictamnus  albus  were  culti- 
vated, I  often  repeated  the  experiment,  but  always 
without  success,  and  I  already  began  to  doubt  the 
correctness  of  the  observation  made  by  the  daughter 
of  Linnseus,  when  during  the  dry  aud  hot  summer 
of  1S57  I  repeated  the  experiment  once  more, 
fancying  that  the  warm  weather  might  possibly 
have  exercised  a  more  than  ordinary  effect  upon 
the  plant.  I  held  a  lighted  match  close  to  an  open 
flower,  but  again  without  result ;  in  bringing,  how- 
ever, the  match  close  to  some  other  blossoms,  it 
approached  a  nearly  faded  one,  and  suddenly  was 
seen  a  reddish,  crackling,  strongly  shooting  flame9 
which  left  a  powerful  aromatic  smell,  and  did  not 
injure  the  peduncle.  Since  then  I  have  repeated 
the  experiment  during  several  seasons,  and  even 
during  wet,  cold  summers,  it  has  always  succeeded ; 
thus  clearly  proving  that  it  is  not  influenced  by 
the  state  of  the  weather.  In  doing  so  I  observed 
the  following  results,  which  fully  explaiu  the 
phenomenon.  On  the  pedicels  and  peduncles  are 
a  number  of  minute  reddish-brown  glands,  secreting 
etheric  oil.  These  glands  are  but  little  developed 
when  the  flowers  begin  to  opeu,  aud  they  are  fully 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


123 


grown  shortly  after  the  blossoms  begin  to  fade, 
shrivelling  up  when  the  fruit  begins  to  form.  Por 
this  reason  the  experiment  can  succeed  only  at  that 
limited  period  when  the  flowers  are  fading.  Best 
adapted  for  the  purpose  are  those  panicles  which 
have  done  flowering  at  the  base,  and  still  have  a 
few  blossoms  at  the  top.  The  same  panicle  cannot 
be  lighted  twice.  The  rachis  is  uninjured  by  the 
experiment,  being  too  green  to  take  fire,  and  be- 
cause the  flame  runs  along  almost  as  quick  as 
lightning,  becoming  extinguished  at  the  top,  and 
diffusing  a  powerful  incense-like  smell. 

In  1SI3,  the  luminosity  of  plants  was  recorded  in 
the  Proceedings  of  the  British  Association.  Mr. 
R.  Dowden  is  said  to  have  made  mention  of  a 
luminous  appearance  on  the  double  variety  of  the 
common  Marygold.  This  circumstance  was  noticed 
on  the  4th  August,  1S42,  at  S  o'clock  p.m.,  after  a 
week  of  very  dry  weather.  Pour  persons  observed 
the  phenomenon.  By  shading  off  the  declining 
daylight,  a  gold-coloured  lambent  light  appeared  to 
play  from  petal  to  petal  of  the  flowers,  so  as  to  make 
a  more  or  less  interrupted  corona  round  its  disk. 
It  seemed  as  if  this  emanation  grew  less  vivid  as 
the  light  declined ;  it  was  not  examined  in  darkness. 
When  this  subject  was  discussed,  Dr.  Allman  ex- 
pressed his  opinion  that  the  phenomenon  was  not 
at  all  due  to  phosphorescence,  but  was  referable  to 
the  state  of  the  visual  organ,  that  is,  an  optical 
illusion.  This  led  Mr.  Babington  to  mention  that 
he  had  seen,  in  the  south  of  England,  a  peculiar 
bright  appearance  produced  by  the  presence  of  the 
Schistostega  pennata,  a  little  moss,  which  inhabited 
caverns  and  dark  places ;  but  this,  too,  was  objected 
to  by  a  member  present,  who  stated  that  Professor 
Lloyd  had  examined  the  Schistostega,  and  had  found 
that  the  peculiar  luminous  appearance  of  that  moss 
arose  from  the  presence  of  small  crystals  in  its 
structure,  which  reflected  the  smallest  portion  of 
the  rays  of  light. 

These  remarks  having  been  published  iu  the 
Gardener's  Chronicle*  Dr.  Edwin  Lankester  in  a 
succeeding  number  communicated  some  observa- 
tions on  the  subject  of  luminosity,  in  plauts  more 
especially,!  in  which  he  referred  to  many  of  the 
facts  of  luminosity  which  had  been  recorded. 

"  The  light  from  the  moss,"  he  says,  "  mentioned 
by  Mr.  Babington  has  also  been  observed  in  Ger- 
many on  another  species  {Schistostega  osmundacea). 
It  has  been  observed  by  Punk,  Brandeuberg,  Nees 
von  Esenbeck,  Hornschuh,  and  Struve.  Bridel- 
Brideri  and  Agardh  attributed  this  light  to  a  small 
alga,  which  the  former  called  Catoptridium  smarag- 
dinum,  and  the  latter  Protococcus  smaragdinus,-which 
they  supposed  occupied  the  moss.  Unger,  how- 
ever, has  examined  the  moss  accurately,  and  finds 


*  Gardener's  Chronicle,  1843,  p.  691. 
t  Ibid.,  1843,  p.  710. 


that  at  certain  seasons  the  peculiar  utricles  of  this 
moss  assume  a  globular  form,  and  being  partially 
transparent,  the  light  is  refracted  and  reflected  in 
such  a  way  as  to  present  a  luminosity  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  vesicles.  Meyen  says  he  has  confirmed 
Unger's  observations." 

With  regard  to  the  light  given  out  from  flowers, 
the  doctor  cites  Christina  Linne,  Linnaeus,  the 
younger  Linnoeus,  Haggren,  Crome,  Zawadzki, 
Hagen,  Johnson,  and  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  as 
amongst  the  observers  whose  experiences  have  been 
recorded.  The  plants  enumerated  by  him  are  the 
Nasturtium  {Tropceohm  majus),  the  Sunflower 
Eelianthus  animus),  the  Marygold  {Calendula  offici- 
nalis), African  Marygold  {Tagetes  erecta  and  Tagetes 
patula),  Martagon  Lily  {Lilium  chalcedonicum  and 
Lilium  bulbiferum),  the  Tuberose  {Polyanthus  tube- 
rosa),  Poppy  {Papaver  orientate)  Chrysanthemum 
{Chrysanthemum  inodorum),  Evening  Primrose 
{(Enothera  macrocarpa),  and  Gorteria  rigens. 

In  addition  to  the  observations  on  the  light  of 
flowers,  there  are  some  on  the  phosphorescence 
and  luminosity  of  sap.  Mornay  describes  a  tree  in 
South  America,  called  Cipo  de  Cunaman,  with  a 
milky  juice,  which  gave  out  in  the  dark  a  bright 
light.  Martius,  also,  in  a  plant  which  he  named 
Et'phorbia  phosphorea,  says  that,  when  wounded,  the 
sap  gave  out  a  light.  To  these  instances  is  added 
a  reference  to  Senebier,  who  observed  in  his  experi- 
ments on  arums,  on  one  occasion,  when  confining 
an  arum  in  oxygen  gas,  that  it  gave  out  light  as 
well  as  heat. 

On  the  same  page  of  the  Gardener's  Chronicle  on 
which  Dr.  Lankester's  observations  are  printed, 
another  correspondent  expresses  surprise  that  any 
doubt  should  be  thrown  on  the  luminosity  of  plants. 
"Por,"he  says,  "I  have  observed  it  frequently,  and 
have  looked  for  it  on  each  succeeding  summer,  on 
the  Double  Marygold,  and  more  especially  the 
Hairy  Bed  Poppy  {Papaver  pilosum),  iu  my  garden 
at  Moseley,  in  Worcestershire.  In  the  evening, 
after  a  hot  dry  day,  the  flashes  of  light  afforded 
much  amusement  to  myself  and  to  others." 

Fifteen  years  later,  and  the  subject  was  again  re- 
vived in  the  pages  of  the  Gardener's  Chronicle,  by 
the  record  of  certain  experiences  tending  to  corro- 
borate those  of  others  which  had  previously  been 
made,  and  to  which  we  have  already  directed  the 
attention  of  our  readers. 

This  observer,  quoting  from  his  diary,  states  :— 
"  We  witnessed  (June  10th,  185S)  this  evening,  a 
little  before  nine  o'clock,  a  very  curious  pheno- 
menon. There  are  three  scarlet  verbenas,  each 
about  nine  inches  high,  and  about  a  foot  apart, 
planted  in  the  border  in  front  of  the  greenhouse. 
As  I  was  standing  a  few  yards  from  them,  and  look- 
ing at  them,  my  attention  was  arrested  by  faint 
flashes  of  light  passing  backwards  and  forwards 
from  one  plant  to  the  other.    I  immediately  called 

g2 


124 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 


the  gardener  and  several  members' of  my  family, 
who  all  witnessed  the  extraordinary  sight,  which 
lasted  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  gradually 
becoming  fainter,  till  at  last  it  ceased  altogether. 
There  was  a  smoky  appearance  after  each  flash, 
which  we  all  particularly  remarked.  The  ground 
under  the  plants  was  very  dry  ;  the  air  was  sultry, 
and  seemed  charged  with  electricity.  The  flashes 
had  the  exact  appearance  of  summer  lightning  in 
miniature.  This  was  the  first  time  I  had  seen  any- 
thing of  the  kind,  and  having  never  heard  of  such 
appearances,  I  could  hardly  believe  my  eyes.  After- 
wards, however,  when  the  day  had  been  hot  and  the 
ground  was  dry,  the  same  phenomenon  was  con- 
stantly observed  at  about  sunset,  and  equally  on  the 
scarlet  geraniums  and  verbenas.  In  1859  it  was 
again  seen.  On  Sunday  evening,  July  10th  of  that 
year,  my  children  came  running  in  to  say  that  the 
'  lightning '  was  again  playing  on  the  flowers.  "We 
all  saw  it,  and  again  on  July  11th.  I  thought  that 
the  flashes  of  light  were  brighter  than  I  had  ever 
seen  them  before.    The  weather  was  very  sultry."* 

These  instances  of  luminosity  in  flowering  plants, 
and  those  about  to  be  alluded  to  amongst  fungi,  are 
referable  to  two  very  distinct  causes.  Those  of 
fungi  being  entirely  exhibitions  of  phosphorescence, 
causes  which  are  inadequate  to  explain  the  pheno- 
mena in  the  other  cases.  Two  or  three  paragraphs 
have  already  appeared  in  recent  numbers  of  this 
journal  illustrative  of  this  phase  of  the  subject,  and 
the  following  are  given  as  more  detailed  accounts 
of  the  instances  alluded  to  by  Mr.  W.  G.  Smith. 

The  Tlev.  M.  J.  Berkeley  f  alludes  to  the  lumi- 
nosity of  fungi  in  his  excellent  "Introduction," 
where  he  says,  "  This  luminosity  has  been  observed 
in  various  parts  of  the  world  ;  and  where  the  species 
has  been  fully  developed,  it  has  been  generally  a 
species  of  Agaricus  which  has  yielded  the  pheno- 
mena. Agaricus  olearius  of  the  South  of  Europe  is 
one  of  the  best  known,  but  other  species  have  been 
observed,  as  Agaricus  Gardneri  in  Brazil,  Agaricus 
lampos,  and  some  others  in  Australia  ;  in  Amboyna 
by  Bumphius,  &c.  Mr.  Babington  has  observed  im- 
perfect mycelia  extremely  luminous  near  Cambridge ; 
and  Dr.  Hooker  speaks  of  the  phenomenon  as  com- 
mon in  Sikkim,  though  he  was  never  able  to  detect 
the  species  to  which  it  was  due.  Tulasue,  %  who 
has  specially  examined  the  luminosity  of  the  agaric 
of  the  olive,  has  observed  dead  leaves  in  the  south 
of  France  to  be  endowed  with  the  same  property, 
without  however,  being  able  to  detect  the  cause. 
Eabre,  in  a  paper  in  the  Annates  des  Sciences  Na- 
turelles,  ascribes  it  to  a  temporary  increase  of  oxy- 
dation. 

Beautiful,  however,  as  the  effect  may  be  in  these 

*  Gardener's  Chronicle,  July  IS,  1859,  p.  60*. 
t  Introduction  to  Cryptogamic  Botany,  p.  265. 
X  Annates  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  1848,  ix.  p.  338. 


instances,  it  is  far  excelled  by  the  phosphorescent 
appearance  presented  by  Rhizomorphce  in  mines,  the 
splendour  of  which  is  described  by  Humboldt  in  the 
most  glowing  colours.  Such  Rhizomorphce  are,  I 
believe,  always  mere  subterranean  forms  of  common 
fungi,  as  is  the  case  with  Rhizomorpha  subcorticalis. 
Decandolle  long  since  explained  their  real  nature ; 
but  it  is  very  curious,  if  this  be  the  case,  that  our 
common  Polypori  and  Xylaria,  which  give  rise  no- 
toriously to  such  productions,  are  not  themselves 
luminous  when  perfectly  developed. 

Mr.  Gardner  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
Brazilian  species  first  discovered  by  himself : — "  One 
dark  night,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present 
month  (December,  1S39),  while  passing  along  the 
streets  of  the  Villa  de  Natividate,  Goyaz,  Brazil), 
I  observed  some  boys  amusing  themselves  with 
some  luminous  object,  which  I  at  first  supposed  to 
be  a  kind  of  large  fire-fly  ;  but  on  making  inquiry 
I  found  it  to  be  a  beautiful  phosphorescent  species 
of  Agaricus,  and  was  told  that  it  grew  abundantly 
in  the  neighbourhood  on  the  decaying  fronds  of  a 
dwarf  palm." 

The  whole  plant  gives  out  at  night  a  bright 
phosphorescent  light,  somewhat  similar  to  that 
emitted  by  the  larger  fire-flies,  having  a  pale 
greenish  hue.  From  this  circumstance,  and  from 
growing  on  a  palm,  it  is  called  by  the  inhabitants 
"  Elor  de  Coco."* 

It  has  been  stated  that  the  mycelium  of  truffles 
is  luminous ;  but  this  seems  to  rest  upon  the 
authority  of  one  observer,  and,  as  far  as  we  can 
learn,  has  never  been  verified. 

Mr.  James  Drummond,  in  a  letter  published 
in  Hooker's  Journal  for  April,  1S42,  and  dated 
Swan  River,  1841,  gives  some  account  of  luminous 
fungi  of  that  region :— "  As  respects  fungi  I  would 
chiefly  like  to  give  you  some  account  of  two  species 
of  Agaricus,  belonging  to  that  division  which  has 
the  stem  at  one  side  of  the  pileus.  They  grow 
parasitically  on  the  stumps  of  trees,  and  possess 
nothing  remarkable  in  their  appearance  by  day  ;  but 
by  night  they  emit  a  most  curious  light,  such  as  I 
never  saw  described  in  any  book.  The  first  species 
in  which  I  observed  this  property  was  about  two 
inches  across,  and  was  growing  in  clusters  on  the 
stump  of  a  Banhia  tree,  near  the  jetty  at  Perth, 
Western  Australia.  The  stump  was  at  the  time 
surrounded  with  water,  when  I  happened  to  be 
passing  on  a  dark  night,  and  was  much  surprised 
to  see  what  appeared  to  be  a  light  in  such  a  spot. 
On  examination,  I  found  it  to  proceed  from  this 
fungus.  It  is  six  or  seven  years  since  this  circum- 
stance occurred.  The  late  Dr.  Collie,  then  our 
colonial  surgeon,  possessed  a  good  collection  of 
botanical  books,  which  he  and  I  consulted,  but 
without  finding  anything  which  bore  on  the  subject. 

*  Hooker's  Journal,  1810,  vol.  ii.  p.  426. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


125 


When  this  fungus  was  laid  on  a  newspaper,  it 
emitted  by  night  a  phosphorescent  light  enabling  us 
to  read  the  words  round  it ;  and  it  continued  to  do 
so  for  several  nights  with  gradually  decreasing 
intensity  as  the  plant  dried  up.  A  few  weeks  ago, 
and  not  till  then,  I  discovered  another  instance  of 
the  same  kind.  I  was  collecting  plants  on  an  iron- 
stone hill  in  the  Toodjay  district,  when  I  was 
struck  with  the  beauty  of  a  large  fungus,  of  the 
same  character  as  the  former,  but  measuring  sixteen 
inches  across,  and  about  a  foot  from  the  root  to  the 
extremity  of  the  pileus.  The  specimen  which  I 
carried  home  weighed  about  five  pounds,  was  very 
smooth,  yellowish-brown  above,  and  dirty-white 
upon  the  gills ;  it  gradually  became  thinner  towards 
the  outer  edge  of  the  pileus,  where  it  was  waved 
and  sinuated.  It  was  the  beauty  of  the  species 
which  induced  me  to  gather  it,  for  as  to  making  a 
full  collection  of  the  Swan  River  fungi,  such  a  task 
would  require  an  entire  season,  and  the  skill  of  a 
person  who  could  make  drawings  or  models  of  them. 
The  specimen  in  question  was  hung  up  inside  the 
chimney  of  our  sitting-room  to  dry,  and  on  passing 
through  the  apartment  in  the  dark,  I  observed  the 
fungus  giving  out  a  most  remarkable  light  similar 
to  what  I  described  above.  No  light  is  so  white  as 
this,  at  least  none  that  I  have  ever  seen.  The 
luminous  property  continued,  though  gradually 
diminishing,  for  four  or  five  nights,  when  it  ceased, 
on  the  plant  becoming  dry.  We  called  some  of  the 
natives,  and  showed  them  this  fungus  when 
emitting  light ;  the  room  was  dark,  for  the  fire  was 
very  low,  and  the  candles  extinguished,  and  the 
poor  creatures  cried  out  '  Chinga  ! '  their  name  for 
a  spirit,  and  seemed  much  afraid  of  it;  and  I 
certainly  must  own  it  is  a  very  extraordinary 
'  Will-o'-the-wisp.5 " 

This  then  is  a  summary  of  the  facts  which  we 
have  been  able  hastily  to  collect  together  con- 
cerning the  luminosity  of  plants.  There  may  be 
other  recorded  cases  which  have  passed  from  our 
memory,  or  with  which  we  have  never  become  ac- 
quainted, and  to  these  it  is  not  at  all  improbable 
that  some  of  our  correspondents  will  be  able  to  add 
others.  The  subject  has  now  been  fairly  opened, 
it  is  a  very  interesting  one,  and  it  must  be  confessed 
still  not  wholly  without  mystery,  especially  in  so 
far  as  regards  the  light  emitted  from  the  flowers, 
&c,  of  the  higher  orders  of  plants. 

Ireland's  Collecting-Case.— We  have  just 
examined  a  portable  collecting-case  designed  by 
Mr.  Sidney  Ireland,  of  Hoxton.  It  is  of  japanned 
tin,  with  a  leather  strap  to  suspend  it  around  the 
neck.  Within  the  case  is  a  brass  clip  head  for  col- 
lecting-bottle to  fasten  to  the  end  of  walking-stick, 
collecting-bottles,  bottle  fitted  with  funnel  and 
filter,  four  large  tubes,  six  small  ones,  and  a  dip- 
ping-tube.   Altogether  compact  and  convenient. 


THE  STORY  OF  A  LUMP  OF  CLAY. 

By  J.  E.  Taylor,  F.G.S.,  &c. 

A  N  outline  of  the  biography  of  even  such  a 
■*-*■  humble  individual  as  myself  will  not  be 
without  interest.  I  need  not  introduce  myself  in 
learned  mineralogical  language,  for  there  is  not  a 
boy  living,  old  or  young,  who  has  not  made  practi- 
cal experiments  on  me.  But  as  clay  is  not  limited 
to  any  geological  formation,  but  occurs  most  abun- 
dantly in  the  later  deposits,  perhaps  it  may  be  as 
well  for  me  to  say  to  which  period  I  belong. 

In  the  older  rocks,  what  was  once  clay  has  since 
taken  the  form  of  slates  or  shales,  subsequent  alter- 
ations having  brought  about  this  change.  I  may 
say,  therefore,  that  I  belong  to  that  period  termed 
the  Eocene— a.  period  remarkable  for  the  great  influx 
of  warm-blooded  types  of  life.  Of  these  I  shall 
speak  presently. 

The  "London  Clay,"  as  it  is  termed,  is  the  parent 
deposit  of  which  I  am  elected  spokesman  and  repre- 
sentative. London  has  been  chiefly  built  out  of 
this  huge  bed  of  clay ;  whence  its  geological  name. 
I  have  a  dark  bluish-brown  appearance,  and  in  some 
places  the  fossils  enclosed  are  assembled  in  great 
abundance. 

Do  not  confound  me  with  the  clay  beds  referred 
to  by  a  more  recent  speaker,  which  belong  to  the 
Glacial  period.  No  mistake  could  be  greater, 
although  very  frequently  our  general  appearance  is 
much  alike.  It  is  when  you  compare  the  fossil  re- 
mains found  in  our  beds  that  you  would  form  a  just 
opinion.  I  was  born  ages  before  the  clay  above 
mentioned,  and,  although  of  marine  origin,  I  came 
into  the  world  under  vastly  different  circumstances. 
When  I  was  born,  a  tropical  climate  existed  in  what 
is  now  Great  Britain — when  my  neighbour  was 
formed  the  cli  mature  was  arctic.  I  made  my  ap- 
pearance at  the  commencement  of  the  Tertiary 
epoch — he  did  not  come  until  the  final  close.  Be- 
tween this  beginning  and  end,  this  extreme  of 
warm  and  cold  climates,  a  long  period  of  time  had 
elapsed,  marked  by  the  deposition  of  thick  strata, 
some  of  whose  members  will  by-and-by,  I  have  no 
doubt,  tell  you  what  occurred  meanwhile.  But, 
from  the  time  when  I  was  formed  to  the  present,  I 
know  there  exists  a  gradual  series  of  beds,  in  which 
fossil  plants  and  animals  are  imbedded,  whose  types 
link  those  of  the  past  with^the  present. living  fauna 
and  flora  of  the  globe. 

The  Eocene  formation  comprehends  other  strata 
than  that  of  which  I  form  a  part,  but  I  do  not 
think  I  am  egotistic  in  stating  that  ours  is  regarded 
usually  as  the  principal  member.  The  total  thick- 
ness of  these  beds  is  over  two  thousand  feet.  The 
upper  series  are  well  developed  in  Hampshire  and 
the  Isle  of  Wight,  where  they  bear  evidence  of 
having  been  deposited  in  fresh  water.    These  are 


12G 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


represented  on  the  Continent  by  the  beds  of  the 
Paris  basin,  famous  to  geologists  as  having  yielded 
to  Cuvier  the  first  materials  for  the  young  science 
of  comparative  anatomy. 

Taking  the  upper  Eocene  strata  in  England,  you 
find  a  gradual  transition  from  purely  marine  to 
purely  fresh-water  conditions,  the  Headon  series 
containing  shells  and  other  organic  remains  usually 
found  under  both  circumstances.  The  Bracklesham 
sands  are  crowded  with  fossil  shells,  chiefly  of  Turi- 
tella,  indicating  how  slowly  such  beds  must  have 
been  formed,  aud  how  suitable  was  the  ancient  sea- 
bottom  to  the  luxuriant  development  of  these 
molluscs.  I  should  also  meution  that  underneath 
the  London  clay  proper  is  a  series  of  strata,  chiefly 
of  sands  and  gravels,  ranging  to  a  total  thickness  of 
nearly  two  hundred  feet.  My  hearers  who  have 
carefully  studied  the  geology  of  older  formations, 
will  see  that  a  marked  feature  about  these  newer 
deposits  is  their  very  local  extension.  Whereas  the 
older  beds  are  almost  world-wide  in  their  distribu- 
tion, the  newer  are  so  limited  that  it  is  very  difficult 
to  correlate  them  in  different  countries.  Again,  the 
principle  of  geographical  distribution  of  animals 
aud  plants  is  felt  more  palpably  in  these  newer  than 
in  the  more  ancient  organisms.  In  the  old  rocks 
all  over  the  world  you  see  fossils  common  to  them, 
but  every  stratum  in  the  more  recent  deposits 
is  marked  by  its  own  suite  of  shells,  &c. ;  just  as 
every  sea  now  possesses  its  own  peculiar  fauna.  • 

I  was  formed  along  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  at  no 
great  distance  from  land,  aud  yet  far  enough  off  for 
the  sediment  brought  down  by  the  rivers  to  have 
bad  its  coarser  particles  precipitated  before  it 
reached  the  area  over  which  my  parent  stratum  was 
laid.  Consequently,  the  muddy  matter  which  there 
fell  to  the  bottom  was  of  a  very  impalpable  charac- 
ter. The  distant  land  was  watered  by  large  rivers, 
whose  mouths  debovched  into  the  sea,  and  furnished 
it  with  the  sedimentary  material  whose  accumula- 
tion to  the  thickness  of  nearly  five  hundred  feet, 
ultimately  formed  the  Loudon  clay.  This  laud  was 
clothed  with  a  gorgeous  and  luxuriant  flora,  more 
like  that  fringing  the  banks  of  the  Indian  rivers,  or 
the  islands  of  the  Malayan  Archipelago,  than  any 
elsewhere  growing  in  the  world.  Principal  among 
the  tropical  forms  were  the  palm-trees,  whose 
graceful  leaves  hung  over  the  water,  and  were  re- 
flected in  its  rippling  depths.  The  succulent  fruits  of 
these  palms  fell  in  the  stream  in  immense  numbers, 
sometimes  literally  covering  the  surface,  and  were 
carried  seawards.  In  some  places  where  the  clay 
was  forming,  these  fruits,  now  known  as  Nipadites, 
accumulated  to  an  extraordinary  thickness,  as  in 
the  Isle  of  Sheppy,  where  no  fewer  than  a  dozen 
species  have  been  met  with.  You  will  see  the 
correctness  of  my  inference  that  an  Indian  climate 
and  scenery  existed  in  England  during  Eocene 
times,  by-and-by;    but,  meantime,  I  may  say  that 


the  only  places  where  palms  now  grow,  whose  fruit 
nearest  resembles  these  of  the  London  clay,  are 
the  Moluccas.    Tree-ferns  and  fan-palms,  also,  were 
not    lacking    in    the    brilliant    landscape ;    whilst 
Aiwnas,    or    "  custard  -  apples,"    gourds,    melons, 
&c,   completed  the  list.     The  rivers   which   ran 
through  these  thickets  of  tropical  vegetation  were 
haunted  by  crocodiles  and  gavials,  lying  in  wait  to 
seize  the  harmless  Paheotheria  which  might  come 
to  drink,   or  to  bathe  themselves  in  the  stream, 
after  the  fashion  of  their  nearest  living  representa- 
tives, the  tapirs.    Opossums  swarmed  in  the  forest, 
and  there  is  good  evidence  for  believing  that,  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  period  I  am   describing, 
monkeys    were    introduced    in    what    were    then 
Euglisb.  woods !     At  dusk,  large  bats,  not  unlike 
those  of  the  Indian  islands,  made  their  appearance. 
Many  of  the  fish  which  lived  in  the  rivers  were 
ganoids,  that  is  to  say,  had  bony-plated,  enamelled 
scales,  like  the  Polypterus  of  the  South  African 
rivers.    The  remains  of  these  fishes  and  bats  have 
been  found  in  some  abundance  near  Woodbridge, 
in  Suffolk.    Lazily  lurking  in  the  flowery  brakes  of 
the  forest  were  huge  serpents,  some  of  them  as  big 
as  the  boa-constrictor,  and  possessing  characters 
now  distributed  among    that  class,  the  pythons, 
colubers,   &c.      In    the    rivers,    and    also    in  the 
adjacent  seas,  swam  terrible  water- snakes,   of  an 
enormous  size,  and  with  vertically  flattened  tails, 
the  better  to  enable  them  to  swim. 

As  you  would  expect  from  such  an  association  of 
aquatic  dangers,  many  of  the  land  animals  fell  a 
prey,  and  portions  of  their  carcases  were  either 
deposited  in  the  river  mud  or  carried  out  seawards. 
Hence  I  can  tell  you  something  of  them,  and  point 
out  a  few  leading  peculiarities.  Chief  and  com- 
monest among  them  were  the  tapiroid  animals,  to 
which  I  have  already  alluded.  These  harmless 
creatures  were  lighter  built  than  the  modern  tapir, 
although,  like  that  species,  they  had  a  short  pro- 
boscis. Their  name  of  Pulaotherium,  or  "  ancient 
beast,"  is  well  deserved,  as,  with  the  exception  of 
the  marsupials,  or  pouched  animals,  they  are  really 
the  oldest  warm-blooded  quadrupeds  with  which  I 
am  acquainted.  They  were  thick-skinned  or  "  pachy- 
dermatous "  animals  ;  but,  like  many  of  the  early 
types,  possessed  characters  which  are  now  more 
or  less  distributed  among  at  least  three  different 
groups.  The  modifications  of  the  higher  animals, 
at  the  time  I  am  treating  on,  were  necessarily  fewer 
than  at  present,  when  such  an  enormous  zoological 
aud  physiological  "  division  of  labour  "  has  ended 
in  more  marked  specific  specialization.  Hence  the 
Palceothcria  had  characters  which  relate  them  to 
the  tapir,  horse,  and  rhinoceros  !  About  half  a  score 
different  species  lived  together,  their  sizes  ranging 
from  that  of  a  decent  horse  to  that  of  a  pig.  Closely 
allied  to  this  extinct  creature  was  the  Anoplo- 
therium,  or  "  harmless  beast,"  as  both  its  name  and 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


]27 


its' structure  implied.  These  last  animals,  however, 
were  perhaps  more  abundant  in  what  was  then 
Erance  than  in  England.  Some  of  them  were  very 
small,  not  much  larger  than  a  rabbit,  whilst  the 
largest  certainly  did  not  stand  higher  than  three  or 
four  feet.  They  usually  frequented  the  marshy 
places,  and  were  very  fond  of  wallowing  in  the  mud. 
Like  their  relatives  first  mentioned,  they  had 
various  zoological  peculiarities,  among  which  was 
the  additional  relation  to  the  modern  camel.  The 
Choropotamus,  or  "river  hog,"  was  also  a  genus  of 
the  thick-skinned  tribe,  and  stood  really  as  a  link 
between  the  Anoplotherium  and  the  modern  Peccary. 
Its  habits,  however,  were  not  so  harmless,  as  its 
teeth  indicate  a  tendency  to  carnivorous  habits. 
The  Dichobune—so  called  from  the  deeply-cleft 
nature  of  its  teeth— was  allied  to  the  group  I  am 
describing.  The  Hyanodon  was  a  truly  carnivorous 
animal,  its  jaws  being  even  better  adapted  for 
cutting  flesh  than  those  of  the  modern  feline  tribe. 
In  some  parts  of  Europe  there  abounded  an  animal 
called  Anthracotlierium  from  its  remains  occurring  in 
the  peat-bogs  or  lignite  beds  of  this  age.  Like 
that  just  described,  it  was  of  flesh-eating  habits,  as 
was  also  another,  very  nearly  allied  to  the  modern 
weasel.  I  have  not  time  to  notice  the  birds  aud  in- 
sects of  this  period — suffice  it  to  say  that  the  latter 
included  forms  now  to  be  met  with  only  in  tropical 
districts.  But  I  hope  I  have  been  successful 
in  showing  the  peculiarities  about  the  terrestrial 
animals,  and  you  will  have  no  difficulty  in  seeing 
how  important  these  extinct  types  are  to  the 
naturalist,  in  enabling  him  the  better  to  fill  up  his 
natural  history  plan.  These  "  missing  links  "  thus 
connect  groups  of  living  animals  which  otherwise 
would  never  have  been  harmoniously  blended.  It 
is  the  moral  of  Mirza's  vision  over  again — the 
extinct  forms  have  fallen  through  the  trap-holes  of 
the  great  viaduct  of  life,  whilst  only  the  recent 
forms  have  arrived  safely  at  the  other  side ! 

You  will  have  seen  that,  as  far  as  it  goes,  the 
testimony  of  the  mammalia  is  supplementary  to 
that  of  the  vegetation,  &c.,  all  tending  to  prove  what 
I  first  stated, — that  a  tropical  climate  ruled  in 
English  latitudes  during  the  Eocene  period !  The 
evidence  of  the  marine  organisms  (with  which,  of 
course,  I  am  better  acquainted)  is  exactly  to  the 
same  point.  Just  as  the  Tertiary  epoch  is  remark- 
able for  its  large  introduction  of  higher  types  of 
animal  life,  so  it  is  also  for  the  greater  influx  of 
genera,  animal  and  vegetable,  of  living  types.  For 
the  first  time,  among  shell-fish,  you  recognize  in  the 
fossils  of  these  deposits,  forms  which  are  common 
in  existing  seas.  But  it  is  not  in  British  latitudes, 
but  in  tropical,  that  you  meet  with  living  genera 
allied  to  the  fossil.  The  old  Nautilus  still  kept  its 
place,  and  several  species  lived  in  English  seas, 
although  it  is  now  scantily  represented  only  in  the 
Indian    Ocean.      Huge   Volutes,  beautiful    Cones, 


Mitres,  Terebella,  Bostellaria,  Typhis,  &c,  abounded; 
and  the  very  mention  of  these  names  at  once  con- 
veys to  the  mind  of  the  conchologist  ideas  of  tropi- 
cal seas.  The  fish  which  lived  in  the  same  seas 
were  also  of  a  type  commoner  to  warmer  areas  than 
to  ours.  Many  species  of  sharks,  some  of  them,  as 
for  instance  Carcharodon,  being  of  immense  size. 
Turtles  lived  in  these  seas  aud  bred  there,  for  cara- 
paces of  all  sizes,  from  the  juvenile  to  the  adult,  are 
deposited  in  that  part  of  the  mass  to  which  I  belong 
forming  the  Essex  cliffs.  As  you  are  well  aware > 
the  turtles  are  now  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
tropical  and  sub-tropical  districts. 

You  see,  therefore,  that  I  have  abundant  evidence 
for  warranting  me  in  my  statement  that  at  the  time 
I  was  born  a  tropical  climate  prevailed  here.  What 
it  was  before  I  cannot  say,  but  I  know  that  even 
before  the  close  of  the  Eocene  period,  this  warmth 
had  already  decreased  very  considerably.  You  will, 
of  course,  remember  that  between  the  beginning 
and  close  of  this  period  there  had  elapsed  time 
sufficiently  long  to  enable  more  than  two  thousand 
feet  of  material  to  accumulate.  The  changes  which 
took  place  in  the  physical  geography  meantime  were 
very  great.  I  am  speaking  of  a  time  when  those 
high  mountains,  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees,  had  not 
been  elevated— nay,  when  the  rocky  material  now 
forming  a  portion  of  their  flanks,  was  being  de- 
posited along  the  sea-floor ! 

In  England  and  France,  marine  conditions  had 
gradually  given  place  to  lacustrine,  and  large  lakes 
had  occupied  the  area  previously  covered  by  the  sea. 
During  the  time  that  these  changes  were  going  on, 
the  climature  was  slowly  toning  down.  The  fossil 
vegetation  met  with  very  abundantly  in  strata  of 
Upper  Eocene  age  in  Hampshire,  show  you  this 
very  plainly.  Although  it  includes  types  now  pecu- 
liar to  warmer  regions,  it  is  not  so  plainly  tropical. 
The  succeeding  age,  the  Miocene,  bears  out  what  I 
say,  and  from  the  period  of  my  birth  until  the  pre- 
sent, the  register  of  the  climature  is  very  faithfully 
kept  in  the  strata  of  the  earth. 

NOTES  ON  "^ECOPHYLLA  SMARAGDINA" 
OF  INDIA. 

npHIS  ant,  which  is  found  throughout  the  North- 
■*•  West  Provinces  of  India,  is  about  the  size  of 
the  one  found  in  woods  in  England,  which  makes 
the  large  loose  heaps  of  fir  spines,  &c,  and  which 
attacks  so  fiercely  when  disturbed.  It  is  of  a 
yellow-brownish  colour,  and  the  male,  whose  body 
is  much  more  slim  and  pointed  than  that  of  the 
workers,  is  of  a  greenish  colour ;  whence  the  name. 
It  may  be  described  as  an  arboreal  ant,  as  it  lives 
chiefly  in  trees,  and  is  constantly  to  be  seen  run- 
ning rapidly  on  the  trunk  or  amongst  the  leaves. 
In  some  notes,  which  were  published  last  year  by 
the  Zoological  Society  in  their  Transactions,  on  the 


128 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Hymenoptera  of  the  North-West  Provinces  of 
India,  I  alluded  to  this  insect  as  the  born  enemy  of 
wasps  and  hornets,  but  did  not  there  enter  into  its 
history,  which  I  propose  to  do  more  fully  in  these 
pages.  It  is  known  by  the  name  of  "mata"  by 
(he  natives,  and  I  used  to  call  it  the  "  yellow  ant." 
My  first  acquaintance  with  it  was  made  when  I  was 
in  camp,  and  my  tent  happened  to  be  pitched  under 
a  mango-tree  where  was  a  nest  of  them.  They 
explored  every  chink  and  crevice  in  the  tent,  and  if 
by  chance  they  were  touched,  they  bit  and  stung 
severely.     In  short,  they  were  a  perfect  pest. 

When  walking  in  a  mango  orchard  one  sometimes 
sees  what  looks  like  a  nest,  or  bundle  of  leaves 
drawn  together,  like  the  appearance  produced  by 
the  work  of  the  sociable  caterpillars.  It  is 
generally  at  the  end  of  the  bough.  This  is  their 
tree  nest,  for  I  have  been  assured  by  the  natives 
that  they  also  have  a  nest  in  the  ground  under  the 
roots  of  the  tree,  although  I  could  never  find  one. 
Once,  when  I  had  many  wasps'  nests  in  my  verandah, 
and  wished  to  get  rid  of  them,  I  was  recommended  to 
procure  a  nest  of  the  "  mata,"  and  hang  it  up  by  the 
wasp's  nest.  A  native  got  one  by  cutting  off  the 
end  of  the  bough  with  the  nest  attached,  and  it  was 
soon  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  long  bamboo  and  set 
up  against  the  wall  near  a  large  nest  of  Polistes 
hebrais,  the  "  yellow]  wasp  "  of  the  Europeans.  On 
leaving  it  there,  a  piece  of  thread  was  tied  to  it 
reaching  to  the  ground  to  enable  the  ants  to  re- 
ascend  to  their  home. 

Presently  a  wasp  showed  himself,  when  he  was 
set  upon  by  three  or  four  ants.  They  seized  hold  of 
him  anywhere,  and,  of  course,  all  fell  together  from 
the  roof  of  the  verandah  to  the  floor  of  the  same, 
rolled  about  together  for  a  few  seconds  in  mortal 
struggle,  when  the  wasp  was  dead,  and  the  ants  on 
their  way  home  again  by  their  ladder,  the  thread. 
Thus  they  went  on  till  not  a  wasp  remained.  They 
will  attack  hornets  in  the  same  manner.  On  one 
occasion  I  took  a  very  fine  nest  of  the  large  hornet 
(Fespa  indica)  which  I  wished  to  set  up  for  the 
Queen's  College  Museum  at  Benares.  I  had  smoked 
out  the  nest,  and  killed  all  the  full-grown  insects 
with  gunpowder,  and  the  comb  I  brought  home.  I 
put  the  whole  affair  under  a  very  large  wire  dish- 
cover,  and  then  added  a  small  colony  of  these  ants. 
Next  morning  between  fifty  and  sixty  dead  bodies 
of  young  hornets,  which  had  emerged  from  their 
cells  in  the  night  under  the  cover,  were  found  strewn 
on  the  dish.  This  went  on  for  a  day  or  two,  when  I 
let  my  useful  assistants  depart.  They  ran  out,  and 
were  soon  ensconced  amidst  the  leaves  of  the 
elephant  creeper  {Argyreia  speciosa)  which  covered 
the  verandah. 

As  before  observed,  I  had  often  seen  their  nests 
in  the  trees ;  I  was  now  to  see  how  they  were  con- 
structed, and  will  therefore  make  an  extract  from 
my  note-book.    "August  22, 1863,  Benares.— The 


nest  taken  to  kill  the  hornets  having  been  broken, 
the  ants  ran  out  and  looked  about  for  suitable 
quarters  for  new  nests,  and  very  soon  had  three  or 
four  ready.  The  sight  was  a  curious  one.  Here 
is  a  leaf  of  the  elephant  creeper,  being  seven 
inches  long,  five  inches  wide,  and  thick  in  propor- 
tion. Here  are  nine  ants  pulling  over  the  points  of 
the  leaf.  And  here  is  the  third  stage,  viz.,  ten  ants 
are  pulling  up  the  sides  of  the  said  leaf  to  make  a 
snug  abode.  Thus  they  held  it  with  all  their  might, 
standing  on  their  hind  legs,  till  others  fastened  it 
all  together  as  they  wished,  apparently,  by  some 
viscous  fluid  which  seemed  to  issue  from  their 
mouths  as  they  passed  their  heads  backwards  and 
forwards,  and  this  hardened  into  a  kind  of  strong 
white  silk.  It  then  looked  as  though  the  edges  had 
been  very  closely  laced  together,  leaving  only  an 
entrance.  Then  commenced  the  busy  scene  of  the 
ants  carrying  their  young  to  their  new  homes,  of 
which,  within  three  hours,  no  less  than  five  were 
ready.  Some  of  these  consisted  of  several  leaves 
drawn  together  by  their  edges,  all  being  similarly 
secured  with  silk.  I  could  detect  no  signs  of  a 
queen,  although,  of  course,  there  must  have  been 
some  female  somewhere. 

"  There  only  seemed  to  be  two  classes,  one  of  a 
very  small  size,  and  few  in  number,  with  small  nip- 
pers, and  another  more  numerous,  with  enormous 
nippers,  very  active  and  brave,  ever  ready  to  stand 
on  their  hind  legs  and  fight  every  assailant.  These 
also,  or  others  so  like  them,  as  to  be  to  an  un- 
practised eye  undistinguishable,  appear  to  tend  the 
young  with  great  care,  feeding  them  from  their  own 
mouths.  These  warriors  often  lost  their  heads  in 
the  encounters  with  the  hornets,  for  they  would  fly 
at  a  leg,  and,  grasping  it  with  their  nippers,  which 
are  constructed  to  cross  each  other,  they  never  let 
go,  and,  if  within  reach,  the  hornet  easily  bit  off 
the  head,  which  then  remained  attached  to  the  leg 
till  the  death  of  the  carrier.  This  also  occurred 
in  their  mutual  fights. 

"  The  orderly  way  in  which  these  ants  worked  was 
very  wonderful.  Who  told  off  their  gangs  of  men 
for  each  leaf?  Had  they  many  chiefs?  And  how 
did  they  settle  how  many  should  go.  to  each  nest  ? 
In  all  this  the  hand  of  God  is  apparent,  who  in 
His  providence  provides  for  the  meanest  of  His 
creatures.  In  the  mango-trees  they  often  draw 
twenty  or  thirty  leaves  together,  when  much  silk  is 
used ;  and  I  have  closely-woven  specimens  several 
inches  square.  This  silk  is  very  much  stronger  than 
any  spider's  web,  and  is  the  only  silken  fabric  I 
have  ever  seen  which  was  made  by  ants. 

"  In  some  nests  which  I  examined  I  found  larva?  in 
different  stages  attached  by  a  glutinous  substance 
to  the  surface  of  the  leaf,  and  I  also  found  them 
being  carried  about  by  other  ants  for  an  airing,  and 
being  fed  from  the  mouths  of  the  carriers  and 
others.    The  winged  males  of  this  species  often  fly 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


129 


into  rooms,  attracted  by  the  light  of  the  lamps  ;  but 
I  never  found  them  at  their  home,  and  until  pointed 
out  to  me  by  Dr.  Jerdon,  I  did  not  know  that  they 
belonged  to  this  species  at  all. 

"  The  leaves  are  not  injured  by  their  joining  opera- 
tions, but  continue  their  growth.  They  cannot, 
however,  fall  when  they  dry  up,  because  tightly 
held  together  by  the  silk,  which  is  woven  so  closely 
in  many  cases,  as  to  be  almost  air-tight,  and  in  some 
slight  degree  resembles  the  consistency  of  a  silken 
cocoon.  I  could  see  no  sign  of  any  insect  food, 
and  the  mode  in  which  the  larvae  are  fed  would 
not  necessitate  any  being  stored;  and  I  am  only 
sorry  that  I  was  not  able  to  collect  more  notes  on 
the  economy  of  this  interesting  insect." 

C.  Hoene,  F.Z.S.,  late  B.C.S. 


ELECAMPANE 

{Inula  Helenium). 
By  Major  Holland,  R.M.L.I. 

THIS  plant,  a  member  of  the  sub-order  Corym- 
biferce,  of  the  natural  order  Composite?,  and  a 
relation  of  the  Camomile,  the  Wormwood,  the 
Dahlia,  the  Gnaphalium  or  Everlasting-flower  of 
cottage  mantelpieces,  of  the  Sunflower,  the  Ground- 
sel, the  Jerusalem  Artichoke,  the  cultivated  Cine- 
raria, and  the  Coltsfoot  (Tussilago  farfara),  from 
which  our  cough  lozenges  are  prepared,  seems 
to  be  but  little  known  or  cared  for  nowadays  :  its 
name,  however,  still  figures  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
confectioner,  and  its  aromatic  juice  is  supposed  to 
be  used  to  flavour  "  Elecampane  rock,"  the  sweetie 
dear  to  charity-boys.  The  farriers  and  "beast- 
leeches  "  of  the  middle  ages  had  great  faith  in  its 
medicinal  properties  ;  in  the  glorious  Augustan  age 
the  cooks  and  epicures  of  luxurious  Rome  esteemed 
its  pungency,  and  introduced  it  into  their  sauces, 
and  the  bard  of  Venusium  has  sung  its  culinary 
virtues,  and  has  handed  them  down  to  posterity 
enshrined  for  ever  in  immortal  verse. 

On  wild  winter  nights,  when  the  fire  burns  cheer- 
fully in  the  snug,  warm  room,  while  the  driving 
storm  rages  fiercely  without ;  when  the  heavy  rain 
lashes  and  dashes  angrily  against  the  invulnerable 
shutters,  and,  even  louder  and  more  terrible  than 
the  howling  and  shrieking  of  the  sweeping  blast,  is 
heard  the  heavy  booming  roar,  the  tremendous  thun- 
der of  the  mighty  sea,  an  old  traveller  chuckles  to 
find  himself  well  housed  in,  and  an  old  wandering 
campaigner  nestling  comfortably  in  his  easy-chair, 
realizes  the  unspeakable  blessing  of  the  peace  and 
security  of  brave  old  England,  and  feels  deeply 
grateful  for  the  tender  mercies  of  his  safe  and  quiet 
home ;  his  eyes  turn  upwards  to  the  well-filled 
shelves  of  his  library,  and  rest  lovingly,  not  upon 
the  ponderous  tomes  handsomely  bound  in  calf  and 
morocco,  but  upon  a  certain  upper  row  of  old,  worn, 


ragged,  battered,  tattered,  thumbed  and  dog's-eared 
volumes  of  all  shapes  and  sizes,  stowed  away  high  up, 
and  as  much  as  possible  out  of  sight,  because  some- 
body has  pronounced  them  "not  fit  to  be  seen";  they 
are  his  old  school-books,  the  tools  he  worked  with 
thirty  years  ago ;  the  grubby  old  man  at  the  rag- 
shop  would  hardly  give  five  shillings  for  the  lot ; 
they  are  a  perpetual  eyesore  to  the  housemaid,  and 
are  not  in  favour  with  the  owner  of  the  witching 
fingers  that  are  sweeping  over  the  keys  of  the  piano, 
making  sweet  melody,  as  though  to  soothe  the  in- 
harmonious furies  of  the  bitter  gale ;  but  they  are 
very  dear  to  him  who  now  regards  them ;  the  old 
companions  of  his  boyhood,  the  deep  old  wells  from 
which  his  thirsting  soul  drew  its  first  draughts  of 


Fig-.  66.  Elecampane  {Inula  Helenium),  \  nat.  size- 

the  waters  of  life ;  his  old  Homer,  his  old  Virgil, 
Livy  with  the  appendix  torn  out,  Terence  with  his 
back  broken,  Cicero  minus  one  flap  of  his  cover, 
Thucydides  steeped  in  red  ink,  Herodotus  up  to 
his  eyes  in  grease,  as  if  he  had  been  a  tallow-chan- 
dler, and  Ovid  sadly  metamorphosed  by  having  been 
used  for  a  target  in  a  match  with  penny  cannons  ; 
Medea  and  Hecuba,  Nepos,  Xenophon,  and  Caesar, 
all  show  honourable  scars ;  some  of  these  have  been 
round  the  world  with  their  master,  his  never-failing 


130 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


solace  and  refuge,  his  confidants,  so  to  speak,  in 
hard  times,  when  all  other  friends  have  failed  :  some 
are  stained  with  the  turbid  waters  of  the  Yellow 
Sea,  which  dashed  in  over  the  weather  bulwarks  of 
a  stout  old  "seventy-four,"  on  just  such  another 
night  as  this ;  one  is  full  of  dried  fern-leaves,  me- 
mentos of  a  deep  Brazilian  glen ;  another  preserves 
flowers  from  South  Africa ;  others  bear  traces  of 
travel  in  Old  Cathay,  in  far-off  Japan,  in  Burmah, 
Bengal,  and  Madras,  and  the  sunny  islands  of  the 
Indian  Archipelago  ;  the  dust  of  the  Great  Prairie, 
the  sand  of  "the  City  of  the  Saints"  of  the  Utah 
basin,  the  grit  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the 
smoke-stains  of  the  camp-fires  of  the  Shoshones,  the 
Snakes,  and  the  Sioux,  have  smeared  and  smirched 
one  or  two  rare  old  favourites  :  there  is  his  father's 
old  Greek  Testament,  in  which  he  first  learned* 
standing  at  the  good  old  man's  knee,  to  spell  out 
•Ev  apxv  %v  °  ^oyog,  and  from  which  his  own  boy, 
in  the  third  generation,  is  now  struggling  to  pick 
out  easy  verses  :  could  ever  enchanter's  wand  con- 
jure up  such  visions ;  what  memories,  what  recol- 
lections of  bygone  days  start  into  life  when  his 
glance  falls  upon  those  poor  dilapidated  volumes, 
and  he  falls  into  a  reverie. 

He  takes  down  his  old  Horace;  there  is  an 
abominable  caricature  of  the  headmaster  on  the 
inside  of  the  cover;  the  wicked  wags  who  got  flogged 
for  false  quantities  in  Latin  verse,  took  note  of  the 
dominie's  unwieldy  disproportioned  shoes,  and  ir- 
reverently nicknamed  him  <T7rovS>]}  because  of  his 
"  two  long  feet."  Poor  old  "  Spondee,"  he  has  long 
since  turned  those  tremendous  toes  up  to  the 
daisies ;  may  the  turf  rest  lightly  upon  them. 

Turning  over  the  leaves  scribbled  all  over  with 
lesson-marks,  and  notes,  and  "  fudges,"  he  dips  into 
the  eighth  satire  of  the  second  book,  and  reads  of 
the  " inulas  amaras"  included  amongst  the  consti- 
tuents of  a  marvellous  sauce  with  which  a  lamprey 
was  served  up  at  the  ostentatious  feast  given  by 
Nasidienus. 

Two  years  ago  (in  the  July  number  of  Science- 
Gossip  for  1S69)  we  spoke  of  modern  lampreys  from 
the  Severn ;  let  us  read  what  Horace  saw  of  them 
at  a  dinner  party  in  the  Eternal  City,  just  nineteen 
hundred  years  ago. 

"  A  lamprey  was  brought  up,  extended  on  a  dish 
with  floating  shrimps.  On  this  subject  the  host 
observed,  '  This  was  pregnant  when  caught,  since  it 
would  be  lower  in  flesh  after  spawning ' :  for  these 
there  was  a  compound  sauce :  of  oil,  which  the 
best  cellar  of  Venafrum  yielded ;  of  pickle,  from 
the  essence  of  the  Iberian  fish ;  of  five-year  wine, 
but  made  on  this  side  of  the  sea ;  with  white  pep- 
per, and  vinegar  which  has  turned  with  its  acid 
Methymna's  vintage  while  it  is  boiling;  when 
boiled,  Chian,  more  than  any  other,  suits  it.  '  I  am 
the  first  (he  said)  who  taught  to  boil  with  it  rough 
elecampane,  and  Curtillus  sea-urchins  unwashed, 


since  they  do  better  with  the  brine  which  the  sea- 
born shell  supplies.' " 

Pliny  declares  that  "this  herb  being  chewed  doth 
fasten  the  teeth.",.  ,  Why  does  not  some  enterpris- 
ing perfumer  introduce  a  "  Pliny's  Patent  Inuline 
Dentifrice,"  and  secure  at  once  his  fortune  and  our 
molars  ? 

Leonard  Mascal  (a.d.  1610)  tells  us  how  to 
fasten  the  loose  teeth  of  a  horse  :  "This  disease  is 
gotten  by  feeding  in  wet  pastures  and  wet  grounds 
in  winter,  and  thereby  his  gummes  will  shrinke 
from  his  teeth,  and  so  they  will  be  loose  and  seem 
long.  Remedy :  ye  shall  let  him  bloud  on  the  veine 
under  the  taile,  and  rub  his  gummes  with  sage  tied 
on  a  stickes  end,  and  give  him  the  tender  crops  of 
blacke  bryars  with  his  provender,  and  so  he  shall 
do  well  againe."  The  monks,  Mr.  Sowerby  informs 
us,  have  sung  its  praises  in  one  of  their  jingling 
Latin  rhymes — 

"  Enula  campana 
Reddit  prrecordia  Sana  ;  " 

and  from  a  corruption  of  the  two  first  words  the 
name  Elecampane  may  perhaps  have  been  derived. 
The  famous  herbalist  Gerarde,  a.d.  1597,  says,  "  It 
is  good  for  shortnesse  of  breath  and  an  old  cough, 
and  for  such  as  cannot  breathe  unless  they  hold 
their  neckes  upright";  and  also  that  it  is  "a  remedy 
against  the  biting  of  serpents,  it  resisteth  poison, 
and  it  is  good  for  them  that  are  bursten  and 
troubled  with  cramps  and  convulsions." 

It  figures  repeatedly  in  Leonard  Mascal's  book, 
as  a  specific  for  glanders,  mange,  and  other 
"  griefes  "  in  horses.  Here  is  a  curious  prescription 
for  curing  broken  wind :  "  Ye  shall  take  of  cloves 
and  nutmegs  3  drams,  of  galingal  and  carclamonum 
together  3  drams,  of  soot,  of  bay  seed,  of  cummin 
more  than  the  other ;  make  all  these  into  a  fine 
powder,  and  put  it  in  white  wine,  tempered  with  a 
little  saffron  ;  then  put  so  many  yelks  of  eggs  as  all 
the  other  in  quantity,  then  temper  it  all  together 
with  the  sodden  water  of  liquoris,  make  him  drinke 
it  with  a  home,  and  let  him]not  drinke  of  foure  and 
twenty  hourcs  after."  f  this  does  not  answer,  "ye 
shall  take  of  the  herbes  following ;  that  is,  of  Venus 
or  maydeu  hairc,  of  flourdeluce,  of  aw  buds,  and 
leaves  of  liquoris,  of  cardamonum,  of  pepper,  of 
biting  almonds,  of  burrach,  ofc  each  2  drams,  of 
nettle  seed,  of  Aristolochy,  |of  each  2  drams,  of 
liquoris  half  a  dram,  of  pitch,  of  coloquintida,  2 
drams;  let  this  potion  be  given  unto  him;  then  if 
this  disease  do  yet  remain,  ye  shall  heal  him  with 
this  medicine,  take  the  herbes  mayden  haire,  long- 
wort,  the  crops  of  nettles,  cardus  benedictus,  herbe 
fiuellin,  the  roots  of  dragons  bruised,  the  roots  of 
elecampan  bruised,  of  waterhemp,  of  peniroyall,  of 
lightwort,  herbe  Angelica,  of  each  of  these  a  good 
handfull,  or  so  many  as  ye  may  have  of  them." 
This  is  to  be  boiled  down,  and  the  horse  is  to  be 
made  to  swallow  the  decoction;  "the  cure  is  hard,' 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


131 


the  doctor  remarks,  and  recommends  that  "cool 
grass  and  willow  leaves  "  be  given  to  the  animal 
afterwards  for  food,  in  order  that  "these  cold  herbes 
may  mittigate  the  heat  of  the  potion." 

Like  most  plants  of  the  same  sub-order,  Elecam- 
pane possesses  certain  bitter,  tonic,  and  aromatic 
properties,  and  the  chemical  extract  Timlin  obtained 
from  it,  is  said  to  be  useful  as  an  expectorant  and 
diaphoretic,  and  has  been  employed  in  cases  of 
catarrh,  and  in  dyspepsia :  the  French  prepare  from 
it  their  tin  d'aunee.  It  is  rarely  seen  in  gardens  at 
the  present  time,  but  we  can  remember  large  quan- 
tities of  it  being  cultivated  many  years  ago,  in  a 
secluded  village  hidden  amongst  the  South  downs 
of  Sussex. 

Bury  Cross,  GosporL 

MISSEL-THRUSH  versus  SQUIRREL. 

f\^  Thursday  last,  April  G,  I  was  a  spectator  at 
^-^     a  contest,  well  worth  recording,  between  the 
above  pugilists.     Having  found  a  missel-thrush's 
nest  about  the  middle  of  March,  I  was  anxious  to 
find  out  when  the  young  ones  would  be  hatched.     I 
therefore  went  daily  to  look  at  the  nest.   On  Thurs- 
day morning  a  squirrel,  feeling,  I  suppose,  a  deeper 
interest  than  even  I  did,  paid  it  a  visit.    He  met, 
however,  with  a  very  different  reception,  for  while  I 
was  permitted  to  climb  up  the  tree  so  as  to  overlook 
the  old  bird  on  the  nest  without  disturbing  her,  his 
kind  attentions  (whatever  his  intentions  may  have 
been)  met  with  a  most  cruel  and  decided  repulse.    I 
was  just  in  time  to  see  the  squirrel  knocked,  not 
only  off  his  legs,  but  also  off  the  branch  on  which 
the  nest  is  built,  down  to  the  ground— a  distance  of 
ten  feet.    His  bewildered  look  at  such  unladylike 
conduct  was  a  study  for  an  artist.    The  old  bird 
did  not  allow  him  time    to   recover,  but  alighted 
on  his    back    and  furiously    pecked   away  at  his 
poor  head,  so  that  I  began  to  fear  that  I  should 
have  a  dead  squirrel  to  pick  up.     What  with  the 
shrieking  of  the  missel-thrush  in  not  very  melodi- 
ous tones,  and  that  peculiar  noise  of  the  squirrel 
when  irritated,    and  the   scuffle  among   the  dead 
leaves,  there  was  a  pretty  hubbub.    The  squirrel, 
after  a  few  seconds,  managed  to  get  away  and  ran 
up  a  tree.    The  bird  flew  at  him  again,  and  again 
compelled  him  to  come  to  the  ground.     He  then 
got  into  an  angle  in  the  roots  of  a  tree,  and  sat  on 
his  hind-legs,  boxing  away  with   his  fore -legs,  in 
what,  I  suppose,  is  the  "  most  approved  "  squirrel 
"style,"     reminding     one    forcibly  of    a    certain 
Scottish  hero,  of  whom  it  is  sung, — 

"  His  back  against  a  rock  he  bore, 
And  firmly  placed  his  foot  before." 

But  the  missel-thrush  had  the  best  of  it,  for  she 
flew  down  at  him  from  above ;  and  no  one  can  be 
surprised  that,  with  those  wings  flapping  just  in 
front  of  his  eyes,  and  those  terrible  shrieks  sound- 
ing in  his  ears,  the  squirrel  at  once  decided  that 


"  discretion   is    the    better  part  of  valour,"  and 
made  another  bold  effort  to  escape.    He  ran  about 
twenty  yards  along  the  ground,  and  in  that  distance 
was  three  times  pulled  up  to  defend  himself  with 
his  fists.    At  length  he  reached  another  tree,  and 
by  corkscrewing  round  the  trunk  contrived  to  reach 
the  upper  branches.    As  the  tree  was  one  of  an 
avenue  there  was  a  good  course  for  him  ;  and  now 
began  a  veritable  "  race  for  life,"  for  the  missel- 
thrush  darted  with  such  violence  at  him  that,  had 
she  struck  him,  he  must  have  fallen  at  least  thirty 
feet.    The  race  continued  for  nearly  three  hundred 
yards,  when  the  missel-thrush  gave  up  the  chase 
and  returned  to  her  nest,  where  she  sat  for  some 
time,  muttering  in  a  very  significant  manner,  and 
adjusting  her  ruffled  feathers.    During  all  this  time, 
until  the  race  began,  I  was  never  more  than  two 
yards  distant    from  the  combatants,   but  neither 
appeared  to  notice  me  in  the  least  degree.    I  saw 
nothing  of  the  male  bird  the  whole  of  the  time. 
Had  he  joined  in,  I  fear  that  Mr.  Squirrel  would  not 
have  got  off  so  easily.    It  was  a  fair  fight,  and  I 
have  now  an  immense  admiration  for  the  "  pluck  " 
of  the  missel-thrush,  while  I   have  become  more 
inclined  than  ever,  should  I  be  placed  on  the  grand 
jury,  to  find  a  true  bill  against  the  family  of  the 
squirrel,  on  the  charge  of  feloniously  entering  dwell- 
ing houses  with  intent  to  murder. 
Bredwardine.  Rev.  R.  Blight. 


A  NEW  EORM  OE  PARASITE. 

rpiIE  unique  specimen  of  this  new  insect  was 
-*■     placed  in  my  hands  for  description  by  Mr.  T. 
Curties,  E.R.M.S. 

I  have  been  unable  to  procure  any  further  ac- 
count of  it  than  the  bare  fact  that  it  was  detected 
as  a  parasite  upon  the  elephant  in  Ceylon.  Of  its 
relations  and  true  position  in  the  vast  series  to 
which  it  belongs,  it  is  very  difficult  to  judge;  and, 
as  is  often  the  case  with  these  minute  and  apterous 
forms,  various  opinions  may  be  assumed  and  sup- 
ported concerning  it. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  constitutes  not  only 
a  new  genus,  but  the  type  of  an  entirely  new  family 
of  insects.  Its  very  novel  and  strange  form  induced 
me  to  submit  it  to  Mr.  Erancis  Walker,  F.L.S.,  who 
has  given  it  the  new  generic  name  " Idolocoris"  (the 
image  or  representation  of  a  bug);  and  I  have  much 
pleasure  in  appending  his  description  and  general 
observations  upon  its  structure  and  systematic  re- 
lations. 

Genus  Idolocoris,  Walker.— "Eemale.  Body  flat, 
oval ;  head  transverse,  a  little  longer  than  the  pro- 
thorax.  Eyes  lateral,  simple,  very  small ;  rostrum 
porrect,  linear,  stout,  not  jointed;  with  three  in- 
cumbent triangular  appendages  on  each  side  above 
on  the  anterior  end ;  with  a  lanceolate  obliquely  re- 
tracted appendage  on  each  side,  in  front  of  the  hind- 


132 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 


most  triangular  appendages,  and  with  a  dentate 
appendage  on  each  side  very  near  the  tip,  which 
bears  two  bristles.  Antennae  stout,  5-jointed ;  sub- 
setaceous,  with  a  few  bristles  ;  a  little  longer  than 
the  head  and  prothorax  together :—  1st  joint  sub- 
clavate,  almost  as  long  as  the  three  following  joints 
together:  2nd,  3rd,  4th,  and  5th  joints  nearly  equal 
in  length. 

"Prothorax  thrice  as  broad  as  long,  narrow  in 
front,  sides  slightly  rounded;  abdomen  nearly  twice 
as  broad  as  the  prothorax,  and  about  six  times  its 


Fig.  07.  Elephant  Parasite  (Idolocoris  elcphantis). 

length,  composed  of  seven  segments,  all  nearly 
equal  in  length,  except  the  7th,  which  is  very  small. 
Legs  short,  with  a  few  bristles ;  femora  stout ; 
tibiae  shorter  than  the  femora;  tarsi  terminated  by 
a  single,  long,  slender,  curved  claw. 

"  The  insect  on  which  this  genus  is  established 
has  a  very  peculiar  structure,  and  is  the  type  of  a 
new  family  of  Hemiptera  Heteroptera;  which 
family  may  be  placed  next  to  the  Acanthidae,  the 
latter  being  represented  by  the  bed  bug.  But  it 
forms  the  extreme  limit  of  the  Hemiptera,  and  per- 
haps links  will  be  found  to  connect  it  with  some  of 
the  Eproboscideous  Diptera." 

Idolocoris  elephantis. — "Pemale.  Testaceous; 
sides  of  prothorax  and  abdomen  with  darker  marks ; 
tibiae  with  darker  bands.    Length,  1  line." 

On  referring  to  the  figure,  it  will  be  seen  that  this 
parasite  resembles  the  Pediculidse  (sucking  lice)  in 


the  structure  and  number  of  joints  of  the  antennae, 
in  the  number  of  segments  of  the  abdomen,  and  in 
the  single  claws  terminating  the  tarsi.  It  differs 
from  the  bugs  in  the  antennae,  in  the  unjointed  and 
produced  rostrum,  and  in  the  single  tarsal  claws. 

The  eggs,  of  which  two  are  contained  in  the  ab- 
domen of  the  specimen  figured,  are  at  once  unlike 
those  of  the  bugs  and  the  Pediculidae,  being  simply 
oval  and  inoperculate.  The  spines  of  the  body  and 
extremities  are  also  quite  unlike  the  characteristic 
spines  of  the  true  bugs. 

All  the  long,  curved  claws  are  finely 
deutated  on  the  inner  edge  with  about  four 
points,  and  a  long,  straight  spine,  termi- 
nating in  a  sharply  recurved  hook,  is  pre- 
sent at  the  external  base  of  the  claws  of 
the  two  posterior  pairs  of  legs.  The  eyes, 
seen  with  a  power  of  2,000  diameters' 
are  simple  (unfaceted)  and  transparent. 

The  structure  of  the  rostrum  is  very 
complex,  and  with  its  reflected  plates  or 
teeth,  it  somewhat  resembles  the  central 
organ  of  the  trophi  of  Ixodes  (Acarina). 
Within  the  rostrum  there  appears  to 
lie  loosely  a  fine  tube,  which  extends  from 
the  apex  to  the  head  of  the  animal,  where 
it  enlarges  into  a  bulb.  This,  without 
doubt,  is  the  canal  by  means  of  which  the 
nutriment  is  introduced ;  while  a  secure 
attachment  is  effected  by  the  recurved 
terminal  teeth.  When  viewed  binocularly, 
the  rostrum  is  found  to  be  bent  slightly 
downwards. 

In  every  particular  this  strange  little 
insect  appears  to  be  exactly  fitted  for  the 
locality  where  it  is  stated  to  occur;  and 
any  one  familiar  with  insect  and  arach- 
nidan  parasites,  would  at  once  assign  to 
it,  as  a  "happy  hunting-ground,"  the  softer 
and  less  exposed  folds  of  the  thick  skin  of 
some  large  quadruped. 
The  Rev.  L.  Jenyns  describes  ("Ann.  et  Mag. 
Nat.  Hist.,"  vol.  iii.  p.  241)  three  species  of  bugs, 
parasitical  on  the  common  pigeon,  the  swallow,  and 
the  pipistrelle  bat ;  which  he  names  respectively 
C.  columbarius,  C.  hirundinis,  and  C.pipistrelli.  These 
insects  belong  evidently  to  the  genus  Cimex  (Acau- 
thia) ;  and  differ  widely  from  the  subject  of  the  pre- 
sent illustration. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  many  new  and  in- 
teresting species  of  parasites  would  be  found  on  ex- 
amining with  care  the  large  naked- skinned  animals 
which  are  sometimes  imported  into  this  country, 
and  especially  when  they  first  arrive,  as  the  treat- 
ment to  which  they  are  subjected  in  confinement, 
although  admirable  with  respect  to  cleanliness,  is 
very  often  fatal  to  the  researches  of  the  most  deter- 
mined collector. 
Kensington.  H.  C.  Richtek. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


133 


BRITISH  BUTTERFLIES  * 


WE  have  already  noticed  Mr.  Newman's  "Illus- 
trated History  of  British  Moths,"  and  be. 
fore  us  lies  the  companion  volume  of  "  British 
Butterflies."  The  author  is  such  a  veteran  ento- 
mologist, such  an  experienced  writer,  so  careful  an 
observer,  and  so  apt  at  plain  teaching,  that  he  needs 
no  commendation  from  us.     Let  it  suffice  to  say 


that  this  volume  is  fully  equal  to  its  companion,  in 
all  that  author,  engraver,  and  publisher  could  do 
to  render  it.  attractive  and  useful ;  and  we  recom- 
mend it  especially  to  all  our  youthful  readers 
who  are  ambitious  of  becomiug  entomologists ; 
and,  secondarily,  to  all  adults  who,  whether  ento- 
mologists or  not,  desire  to  possess  the  most 
characteristic  woodcuts  of  British  Butterflies  ever 
executed.  It  has  been  supposed  that  figures  of 
butterflies  possess  little  value  as  teachers  without 
the  aid  of  colour.  Here  is  a  silent  rebuke  to  such 
a  supposition,  for  each  figure  is  a  "  speaking  like- 
ness," and  we  hope  that  the  volume  will  obtain  the 
success  it  so  well  deserves. 


Fig.  08.  Figures  of  Rothlieb's  Marsh  Ringlet,  Ccenonymp/ia 
Davus,  var.  Rothliebii ;  one  upper  and  five  under  sides; 
kindly  lent  by  the  publisher. 

*  "An  Illustrated  Natural  History  of  British  Butterflies." 
By  Edward  Newman,  F.I-.S.     London:  William  Tweedie. 


PRIMROSES  AND  COWSLIPS. 

THE  following  communications  on  this  subject 
have  been  received  during  the  month  : — 

Prom  the  interest  you  have  taken  in  the  prim- 
rose, cow's-lip,  and  ox-lip,  I  venture  to  offer  a  few 
remarks  on  a  specimen  which  came  under  my  notice 
last  week. 

The  flower  was  an  umbel  of  eighteen  flowerets, 
fifteen  opened  and  three  buds.  These  were  sepa- 
rable into  three  sets  of  six  each,  which  may  be 
called  outer,  middle,  and  inner. 

The  limb  of  the  corolla  was  concave  in  the  inner 
six,  less  concave  in  the  middle,  and  flat  in  the 
outer. 

The  diameter  of  the  extended  limb  of  corolla 
was  T\  of  an  inch,  U  in.,  and  if  in.  respectively. 
The  colour  of  the  inner  and  middle  set  was  pale 
primrose,  while  that  of  the  six  outer  was  what  the 
ladies  call  "  cuir  "  colour. 

The  length  from  the  origin  of  furcation  in  the 
inner  set  was  1|  inch,  and  that  of  the  outer  set 
If  inch.  The  position  of  the  stamina,  which  varies 
sometimes  in  Primula  veris,  was  uniformly  in  all 
these  flowers  halfway  down  the  tube  or  unguis 
of  the  corolla.  The  points  of  difference  thus  from 
true-bred  plants  of  P.  veris,  P.  acaulis,  and  P.  elatior 
consist  mainly  in  the  variety  of  forms  in  the  same 
umbel,  aud.  the  altered  colour  of  the  corolla  in  the 
outer  six. 

In  examining  cultivated,  semi-cultivated,  and 
wild  plants  of  this  class,  we  find  a  tendency  in 
P.  'acaulis  to  develop  many-flowered  stalks  from 
single-flowered ;  and,  when  nourished  by  pure  cow- 
dung,  the  colour  passes  by  slow  degrees  to  deep 
crimson.  In  a  specimen  now  before  me,  the  colour 
is  deep  crimson,  the  outer  stalks  single-flowered, 
and  the  centre  stalks  (yet  in  the  bud  state)  many- 
flowered,  one  having  four  and  another  five  flowerets. 
This  is  passing  to  become  a  polyanthus. 

In  P.  veris  the  corolla  increases  in  size,  and  be- 
comes paler  in  hue,  as  if  resembling  P.  acaulis.  In 
another  plant  before  me  of  P.  acaulis  of  a  pale  red, 


134 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


I  find  one  many-flowered  stem  with  eight  flowerets 
and  buds,  the  length  varying  from  |  inch  to  2§ 
inches  from  the  parent  stem. 

In  several  cases  of  the  variety  of  P.  acaulis, 
passing  to  P.  elatior  (perhaps  the  P.  officinali-vul- 
garis,  plates  1132, 1133,  of  English  Botany,  third  edi- 
tion :  see  Science  Gossip,  Oct.  1867,  p.  235),  I 
have  seen  umbels  of  flowerets,  each  of  which  had 
its  inflorescence  on  a  stalk  of  three  or  four  inches 
from  the  parent  stem ;  and  I  have  also  seen,  in 
addition  to  these  umbels,  separate  stalks  proceed- 
ing at  right  angles  from  the  parent  stem,  at  an  inch 
or  even  two  inches  below  the  furcation  to  form  the 
umbel. 

The  bearing  of  this  question  on  the  evolution 
hypothesis  of  Mr.  Darwin,  as  well  as  the  import- 
ance of  the  principle  to  certain  remarks  which 
I  have  myself  ventured  to  offer  in  reference  to 
Xenogenesis  (see  Medical  Times  and  Gazette) 
"  Polymorphism  or  Xenogenesis  in  Disease ;"  and  a 
paper  in  the  May  (187 J)  number  of  Month!)/  Micro- 
scopical Journal  on  "  Transmutation  of  Porm "), 
lead  me  to  hope  that  you  will  see  sufficient  interest 
in  this  specimen  to  give  it  insertion  in  your  valuable 
journal. 

It  seems  to  me  that  if  the  principle  of  evolution 
be  allowed;  it  must  of  necessity  create  a'  perfect 
revolution  in  the  habit  of  classification  of  nature 
such  as  has  been  considered  right  since  the  reign  of 
Cuvier  over  Natural  History.  It  will  also  smooth 
the  way  to  unravel  much  that  is  now  very  obscure, 
and  render  the  system  of  nature  much  more  intelli- 
gible, and  develop  the  unity  of  creation ;  or  as  our 
Poet-Laureate  expresses  it, — 

"  The  ear  of  man  cannot  hear,  and  the  eye  of  man  cannot 
see, 
But  if  we  could  hear  and  see  this  vision — Were  it  not 


HE. 


Metcalfe  Johnson,  M.E.C.S.E. 


I  inclose  a  drawing  of  an  oxlip  presenting  an 
interesting  deviation  from  the  ordinary  mode  of 
inflorescence.  The  plant  is,  I  think  there  can  be 
no  doubt,  a  hybrid  between  a  primrose  {Primula 
vulgaris)  and  a  cowslip  (P.  veris),  and  not,  as  I 
believe  the  plants  popularly  called  oxlips  frequently 
are,  a  developed  primrose.  It  was  discovered  at 
Sherborne,  Dorset,  in  a  coppice  where  the  under- 
wood had  been  recently  cut,  within  thirty  yards  of  a 
meadow  where  there  were  numbers  of  cowslips,  the 
coppice  itself  abounding  in  primroses.  The  plant 
resembles  a  primrose  in  shape  of  leaves,  form  of 
calyx  and  of  corolla,  except  that  the  latter  is  not 
quite  so  large,  nor  so  flat  or  salver-shaped,  as  in  an 
ordinary  primrose;  in  colour,  and  particularly  in 
smell,  the  flowers  closely  resemble  cowslips.  The 
most  noticeable  feature,  however,  is  the  mode  of 
inflorescence.  When  the  plant  was  gathered,  there 
were  the  remains  of  two  fiower-stems  at  the  base, 


these  having  been  to  all  appearance  single-flowered 
scapes ;  between  these  rises  a  stout  peduncle 
bearing  a  large  umbel  (larger  than  in  sketch)  at  its 
summit,  and  in  addition  to  this  two  single  pedicels 
and  one  pair  of  pedicels  at  various  distances  below, 
the  flowers  borne  on  all  being  alike.  The  peduncle, 
though  a  stout  one,  is  not  more  so  than  usual  in  a 
gross-growing  plant,  and  there  are  no  signs  of 
striation  or  torsion  in  any  part,  as  would  be  the 
case,  I  think,  if  it  were  an  instance  of  fasciation  or 
union  of  two  or  more  stems. 

My  own  explanation  of  the  case  is,  that  this 
peculiar  and  handsome  deviation  from  the  ordinary 
form  arises  from  a  redundancy  of  vegetative  power 
in  the  plant  occasioning  a  partial  proliGcation  of  the 
inflorescence,  the  racemose  condition  arising  from 
the  umbel  being,  as  it  were,  drawn  out,  and  the 
intervals  between  the  pedicels  abnormally 
developed.  I  should  like  to  hear  the  opinion  of 
others  of  your  readers.  P.  J.  TVarner. 

Winchester. 


These  communications  and  the  sketches  that 
accompanied  them  were  submitted  to  Mr.  Robert 
Holland,  who  has  devoted  much  attention  to  the 
subject,  and  he  submits  the  following  observa- 
tions : — 

I  return  you  the  two  papers  on  oxlips ;  I  do  not 
think  there  is  very  much  that  is  new  in  Mr.  John- 
son's paper.  The  two  points  of  .difference  from 
other  oxlips  which  he  considers  so  remarkable, 
namely,  the  difference  of  form  and  size  in  the  florets, 
and  the  difference  of  colour,  are  not  unlikely  to  be 
traced  to  the  fact  of  the  smaller  and  lighter-coloured 
florets  having  expanded  in  water  after  being  gathered. 
The  result  is  what  always  takes  place  when  flowers 
expand  in  water;  but  one  should  scarcely  judge 
without  seeing  the  flowers  themselves.  And  again, 
it  is  only  reasonable  to  expect  that  florets  in  the 
middle  of  a  large  bunch  will  be  robbed  of  nutriment 
by  the  outsiders,  and  will  come  out  smaller  and 
weaker.  Now  I  come  to  think  of  it,  possibly  this 
may  be  one  amongst  other  reasons  why  we  so  often 
find  outside  florets  so  much  larger  than  the  inner 
ones  in  many  plants,  such  as  Viburnum  Opulus,  some 
of  the  Hydrangeas,  &c,  and  ray  florets  larger  than 
disc  florets  in  so  many  of  the  Compositcc  ;  and  may 
even,  perhaps,  explain  the  irregularity  of  form  in 
the  florets  of  the  Umbellifera,  where  the  petals 
pointing  outwards  are  generally  larger  than  those 
which  point  inwards,  as  also  in  Iberis. 

If  the  fact  (?)  which  Mr.  Johnson  mentions  of 
cow-dung  turning  primroses  crimson  be  proven,  it 
is  interesting.  It  is  a  bit  of  Yorkshire  folk-lore ; 
but  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  real  explanation  is 
that  cow-dung  intensifies  colour,  but  that  the  prim- 
rose to  be  worked  upon  must  have  had  a  pink  tinge 
to  begin  with. 


HAJIDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


135 


Mr.  Johnson  also    confuses  Primula  elatior,  as  ,   formation  of  distant  flowers  on  the  scape  below  the 

many  still  do.    I  think  that  every  time  he  uses  the  umbel,  which  is  the  main  subject  of  Mr.  Warner's 

name,  instead  of  meaning  P.  elatior  (Jacq.),  he  is  (  p.iper.     This  abnormity  is  not  uncommon,  but  is 

speaking  of  the  common  hybrid  oxlip.  j   very  interesting,  aud  I  think  is  rightly  explained  by 

One  point,  on  which  he  lays  but   little  stress,  Mr.  Warner  as  a  partial  prolification  of  the  inflo- 

seems  to  me  to  be  the  most  interest  in  ?,  viz.,  the  rescence.                                 Robert  Holland. 


!»       - 


.  i 


Fig.  G9.    Sakd  Martins. 

From  "  Our  Fe&tbered  Ccn  pai.i<  ns,"  lent  by  the  Publishers. 


136 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Fig.  70. 

"Whin  chat.  Stoneciiat. 

From  "  Our  Feathered  Companions," 


KINDNESS  TO  ANIMALS. 

"TTTE  have  before  us  three  books,*  the  special 
*  "  design  of  which  is  to  inculcate  kindness  to 
animals.  They  are  all  by  different  authors,  but  one 
publisher,  uniform  in  size,  style,  appearance,  and 
price.  If  we  felt  disposed  to  criticise  such  books 
in  a  discontented  spirit,  and  be  over-nice  about  old 
stories  in  new  forms,  or  such-like  cavils,  we  must 
confess  that  the  object  for  which  these  books  are 
written  would  at  once  disarm  us.  Not  that  there 
is  anything  in  them  that  we  should  disapprove, 
under  the  rose ;  but,  after  all,  we  like  "  Our 
Feathered  Companions  "  the  best.  Is  it  because  we 
love  birds  so  much,  that  we  are  led  to  prefer  this,  the 
only  book  of  the  three  written  in  dialugue,  although 
dialogue  books  are  our  abhorrence.  It  must  be  so; 
nothing  else,  except  the  object,  could  sanctify  such 
a  means.  Of  course,  Shirley  Hibberd's  book  is 
well  done ;  and  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall's  name  is  too  well 
known  for  the  good  things  she  has  written  to  leave 
room  for  doubt.  Altogether,  then,  this  is  a  worthy 
trio  of  books ;  they  are  written  for  a  holy  purpose, 
and  whilst  thanking  the  authors  for  their  cham- 
pionship of  our  "dumb  companions,"  we  wish  the 
series  every  success,  and  speedy  sale. 

*"  Clever  Dogs,  Horses,  &c,  with  Anecdotes  of  other 
Animals."     By  Shirley  Hibberd. 

"Animal  Sagacity."     Edited  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall. 

"  Our  Feathered  Companions  "  By  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Jackson,  M.A.  All  published  by  S.  W.  Partridge  &  Co., 
9,  Paternoster  Row. 


GILL  OF  SWORE-FISH. 

/~\NE  of  the  latest  novelties  which  Mr.  Wheeler 
"  of  Holloway  has  offered  to  microscopists  in 
the  way  of  mounted  objects,  is  a  portion  of  the  gill 
of  the  swordlisli.  It  certainly  resembles  (super- 
ficially   of    course)   a  slice  of  sponge,  and  is  an 


Fig.  71.  Gill  of  Swordfish. 

illustration  of  organic  structure  at  once  beautiful 
and  instructive,  and  will  find  a  place  in  every  good 
cabinet  of  objects.  Our  figure  only  represents  it 
under  quite  a  low  power,  but  when  seen  under  a 
higher  amplification,  it  exhibits  new  beauties  which 
the  graver's  art  fails  to  render.  The  slides  arc 
"got  ud"  in  Mr.  Wheelei's  best  style. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


137 


ZOOLOGY. 

Rooks.— On  the  6th  of  May  the  editor  of  the 
Manchester  Guardian  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anni- 
versary of  its  publication  by  reprinting  the  first 
number,  which  contains  several  interesting  para- 
graphs on  natural-history  subjects.  The  most 
remarkable  of  these  is  an  account  of  several  pairs 
of  rooks  having,  in  the  spring  of  1821,  built  their 
nests  in  some  trees  at  the  top  of  King-street,  Man- 
chester, which  even  then  was  in  the  middle  of  the 
town.  Jackdaws  also  seem  to  have  been  common 
there,  for  a  number  of  them  assisted  the  paired 
rooks  in  stealing  materials  from  the  nest  of  a  soli- 
tary old  female,  who  eventually  durst  hardly  quit  it 
to  seek  food.  The  same  paper  mentions  a  letter  in 
the  Bodleian  Collection,  dated  1735,  which  states 
that  a  Mr.  Vernon  followed  a  butterfly  nine  miles 
before  he  could  catch  it. — G.  H.  H. 

Summer  Migrants.— Birds  of  passage  have,  as 

a  rule,  appeared  somewhat  early  this   spring.    I 

subjoin  a  list  of  those  noticed  by  me,  and  the  times 

of  their  appearance.    I  have  in  no  case  depended 

on  the  information  furnished  by  others,  but  have 

entirely  relied  on  the  evidence  of  my  own  eyes  and 

ears,  which  rule,  I  may  say  without  vanity,  is  the 

only  infallible  one.   The  Chiff-chaff  {Sylvia  hippolais) 

came  on  March  21th ;  the  Blackcap  {Curruca  atrica- 

pilla)   on  April  3rd;    the  Willow    Wren   {Sylvia 

Trochilus)    on    the    8th;    the    Chimney    Swallow 

{Hirundo  rustica)  on  the  13th ;  the  Redstart  {Phce- 

nicura    ruticilla)    on  the  11th;    the    Nightingale 

{Philomela  luscinia)  on  the  16th  ;  the  Sand  Martin 

{Hirundo  riparia)  on  the  16th;  the  Cuckoo  {Cuculus 

canorus)  on  the  23rd ;   the  Whitethroat  {Curruca 

cinerea)  on  the  23rd;  the  Turtle  Dove  {Columba 

Tartar)  on  the  29th;  and  the  Spotted  Flycatcher 

{Muscicapa  grisola)  on  May  2nd.    Note.— Why  do 

all  the  books  on  ornithology,  which  I  have  consulted, 

invariably  give  the  third  week  or  end  of  May  as  the 

time  of  the  appearance  of  the  Flycatcher?     In  this 

neighbourhood  it  always  appears  very  early  in  the 

month,  be  the  weather  mild  or  rough.    In  1S69, 1 

noticed  it  on  the  2nd  of  May  ;  in  1S70,  on  the  5th  ; 

and  this  year  on  the  2nd.   While  I  write  (May  8th), 

a  pair  of  these  harmless  and  useful  little  birds  are 

building  in  a  pear-tree  trained  against  the  walls  of 

this  house,  where  they  or  their  progenitors  have 

reared  broods  of  little  chirpers  year  after  year  — 

William  Henry  Warner,  Kingston,  Abingdon. 

Puttocks  (p.  119).— Several  birds  are  called  by 
this  name  in  the  south  of  England.  One  of  these  is 
the  common  Buzzard,  which  is  invariably  known 
as  the  Puttock  in  Essex ;  the  others  are  the  Kite 
(also  called  the  Crotchet-tailed  Puttock)  and  the 
Marsh  Harrier.  See  Atkinson's  "British  Birds' 
E-s  and  Nests."— G.  H.  H. 


Hawfinch  {Coccothraustes  vulgaris). — I  consider 
myself  very  fortunate  in  finding  to-day  a  nest  of 
this  rare  bird,  with  five  eggs.  It  was  in  a  yew-tree, 
within  reaching  distance  from  the  ground,  in  a 
park,  about  two  miles  from  this  town.  The  bird 
was  in  the  nest,  which  is  composed  of  twigs,  lichen, 
and  fibrous  roots,  the  interior  being  lined  with  dried 
reed-grass.  The  eggs,  of  a  pale  olive-green  colour, 
are  beautifully  marked  with  black  spots  and  greyish 
streaks.  The  nest  of  this  bird  in  our  country  is  so 
seldom  discovered,  that  the  above  account  probably 
may  not  be  uninteresting  to  collectors.  —  Fred. 
Anderson,  Alresford,  Hampshire,  May  S,  1871. 

The  Butterflies  of   Arabia  and  Egypt. — 
A  very  interesting  list  of    lepidopterous    insects 
collected  or  observed  by  J.  K.  Lord,  Esq.,  has  been 
recently  published.    The  localities  explored  by  him 
had  not  previously  been  particularly  investigated 
with  a  view  to  ascertain  their  insect  fauna.    The 
region  in  Egypt  which  he  visited  bears  resemblance, 
we  are  told,  to  some  parts  of  the  Mediterranean 
coast,  and  is  even  not  unlike  some  sandy  portions  of 
our  own  coast-lines.    In  addition  to  his  investiga- 
tions of  this  Egyptian  district,  and  of  the  Arabian 
"  wadies  "  and  plains,  Mr.  Lord  also  examined  the 
African  shores  of  the  Red  Sea.    He  reports  the 
following  amongst  our  British  species  as  occurring 
in  the  places  he  visited.    The  Swallow-tail  {Papilio 
Machaon),  near  Mount  Sinai ;  the  Small  or  Garden 
White  {Pieris  Rapa),  at  Cairo;   our  exceedingly 
rare  species  the  Bath    White  {Pieris  Daplidice), 
taken  at  Wady  Gennet  and  at  Mount  Sinai ;  our 
common  and  pretty  species  of  Anthocharis.    The 
Orange-tip  is  not  recorded,  though  many  species  of 
that  genus  occur  in  Arabia :  Mr.  Lord  particularizes 
nine    which    he    noticed.     The    Clouded    Yellow 
{Colitis  Edusa)  was  seen  at  Mount  Sinai ;  its  relative 
the  Pale  Clouded  Yellow  {Colias  Hyale),  observed 
at  Akeek    Island,    Harkeko,   African  coast;    our 
conspicuous    Red    Admiral    {Pyrameis   Atalanta) 
occurs  about  Cairo,  and  the  allied  and  very  widely 
distributed  Painted  Lady  {Pyrameis  Cardui),  also 
near  Cairo,  and  on  Akeek  Island.     The  caterpillars 
were  also  seen  feeding  on  a  species  of  Artemisia. 
Our  Fritillaries,  Meadow  Butterflies,  and  Blues  are 
represented  by  peculiar  species  of  the  exotic  genera 
Idmais,  Junonia,  Callidryas,  and    Lampides.      The 
whole  number  of  butterflies  noted  is  sixty-one,  out 
of  which  the  seven  above  named  are  British.— 
/.  B.  S.  C. 

Sounding  Apparatus.— I  have  for  some  time 
been  trying  to  find  out  some  cheap  and  effective 
apparatus  to  obtain  specimens  of  the  sea  bottom 
from  depths  at  which  an  amateur  could  not  work  a 
dredge,  except  at  great  expense.  I  have  applied 
to  the  most  likely  makers  of  such  things,  and  also 
to  the  public,  through  your  columns,  but  can  hear 
of  nothing  better  than  the  old  plummet,  with  grease 


138 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


at  the  bottom.  I  am  told  such  a  thing  has  often 
been  inquired  for  ;  and  as  I  have  at  last  succeeded 
in  making  a  very  simple  yet  effective  plummet,  I 
thought  a  description  of  it  would  interest  your 
readers.  The  sketch  will  illustrate  it  better  than  a 
mere  written  description  could.  The  body  a  is  a 
tube,  made  of  tinned  iron  or  copper,  with  a  lid 
at  top,  furnished  with  bayonet  catches,  to  prevent 
it  coming  off.  At  the  bottom  a  conical  piece  of 
tin,  b,  with  the  top  of  the  cone  cut  off  at  c,  is  in- 
serted and  soldered  to  the  tube.  A  ball  (I  find 
a  common  indiarubber  ball,  such  as  are  sold  for 


"W 


^ 


A 


Fig.  72.  Sounding  Apparatus,  with  section  of  same. 

children  to  play  with,  acts  very  well,  and  the  cost 
is  only  about  threepence  each),  nearly  the  same 
diameter  as  the  tube,  works  freely  inside  it,  and 
falling  on. the  seating  at  c,  makes  a  joint.  A  lead 
ring  e  slips  on  the  tube,  and  rests  on  the  ledge  at  f. 
When  in  use,  the  sounding-line  is  fixed  to  the 
handle  at  the  top,  and  the  boat  being  stopped,  or 
nearly  stopped,  the  plummet  is  let  go.  On  touching 
the  bottom,  it  should  be  slightly  lifted,  and  let 
down  gently,  to  insure  it  resting  right  side  up. 
The  weight  of  the  lead  ring  will  force  the  bottom 
part  of  the  plummet  into  the  mud  or  sand,  which 
will  be  forced  up  inside,  lifting  the  ball  r>,  and 
flowing  through  the  opening  c  into  the  trough  G ; 
on  raising  the  plummet,  the  ball  immediately  falls 
back  on  its  seating,  aud  the  contents  of  the  plummet 
are  brought  to  the  top.  I  tried  it  last  summer,  and 
never  failed  to  bring  up  a  good  specimen,  sufficient 


to  find  a  good  many  hours'  work  with  the  microscope, 
and  the  most  delicate  Foraminifera,  Diatoms,  and 
Entomostraca  were  not  only  perfect,  but  alive.  My 
plummet  is  about  eight  inches  high,  four  and  a 
quarter  inches  diameter  outside  the  lead  ring,  and 
weighs  about  nine  pounds.  It  can  be  made  for  a 
mere  trifle  by  any  tinman  ;  or  it  can  be  purchased 
from  Mr.  Highly,*  to  whom  I  have  shown  the  idea, 
and  who  lias  undertaken  to  make  them  for  sale. 
Of  course,  for  very  great  depths,  the  indiarubber 
ball  would  have  to  be  weighted  a  little,  as  it  is 
obliged  to  be  of  slightly  greater  specific  gravity 
than  the  water.  I  venture  to  hope  that  this  little 
"  dodge  "  may  induce  some  to  enter  upon  a  study 
yet  in  its  infancy,  and,  by  enabling  even  amateurs 
with  not  very  well-lined  purses  to  study  the  minute 
forms  of  life  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  around 
our  coasts  while  living,  may  add  something  to  our' 
stock  of  knowledge.  Since  writing  the  above, 
Science-Gossip  for  this  month  has  come  to  hand, 
and  one  of  your  correspondents  has  tried  to  help 
me  out  of  last  year's  difficulty.  While  thanking  him 
for  his  good  intentions,  I  fear  he  has  little  idea  of 
the  practical  difficulties  of  the  question.  If  he  had 
to  draw  his  plummet  through  thirty  or  forty  fathoms 
of  water,  he  would  not  find  many  organic  substances 
in  the  holes,  even  if  heavy  grains  of  sand  would 
stay  in,  which  I  doubt.  My  aim  was  to  get  some- 
thing so  simple,  that  it  could  be  worked  even  on  a 
tolerably  rough  sea,  and  yet  so  certain,  that  the 
labour  of  lifting  a  heavy  plummet  through  the  water 
would  not  be  labour  lost. — C.  L.  Jackson. 

Spring  A7isitoks.— Swallow,  April  23rd  ;  Corn- 
crake and  Cuckoo,  24th;  Blackcap,  26th.  The  weather 
very  unfavourable  at  the  time,  and  continued  extra 
cold  for  several  days  after  their  arrival.  Yet,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  their  appearance  this  year  is 
a  few  days  sooner  than  usual. — John  Sim,  West 
Crahilington,  Northumberland. 

Intsect  Catalogues. — In  reply  to  numerous 
inquiries  for  catalogues  of  insects,  we  are  enabled  to 
state  that  some  copies  may  still  be  obtained  of 
Waterhouse's  Catalogue  of  British  Coleoptera.  Also 
that  a  new  catalogue  of  British  Coleoptera  is  in 
active  preparation,  and  may  soon  be  had  of 
Mr.  E.  W.  Janson,  No.  28,  Museum  Street, 
London,  from  whom  may  be  obtained  Marseul's 
Catalogue  of  European  Coleoptera  at  one  shilling 
(well  worth  the  money),  and  T.  A.  Marshall's  Cata- 
logue of  British  Ichucumonidse.  We  have  already 
alluded  to  Mr.  McLaehlan's  excellent  Catalogue  of 
British  Neuroptera,  and  Dr.  Knaggs's  Catalogue 
of  British  Lepidoptera.  We  are  informed  that  all 
these  lists  are  still  on  sale,  and  may  be  had  of 
Mr.  Janson. 

*  1»a,  Great  Portland- street,  London. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  C  E-G  OSSIP. 


139 


BOTANY. 

TnE  Pineapple  (p.  117).— It  is  hardly  fair,  with- 
out having  seen  the  "  stamp  "  which  "  M.  Q.  M.  C." 
speaks  of,  to  throw  any  doubt  on  his  theory  as 
to  the  early  introduction  of  this  fruit ;  and  1  can- 
not help  almost  wishing,  for  his  sake,  that  I  may 
be  wrong  in  my  view  of  the  matter ;  for  if  L  were 
"M.  Q.  M.  C."  I  should  be  very  "proud  of  an  ancestor 
who,  I  thought,  had  introduced  to  this  country  so 
fine  a  fruit  as  that  which  we  now  call  Pineapple  ; 
and  should  scarcely  thank  auy  officious  corre- 
spondent for  trying  to  upset  my  belief.  But  I 
suspect  that  the  author  of  "  Fruits  of  Great  Britain  " 
is  right,  for  the  following  reason.  The  old  her- 
balists make  no  mention  whatever  of  the  fruit  of 
Ananassa  sativa.  Lyte,  who  is  my  great  authority 
just  now,  as  I  have  a  fine  copy  of  his  Herbal  in  the 
house  (borrowed  unfortunately),  does  not  describe 
it.  His  book  was  printed  in  1578 ;  and,  as  he  speaks 
of  most  of  the  plants  that  in  his  time  were  culti- 
vated only  "in  the  gardens  of  the  curious,"  and 
even  of  some  that  were  imported  but  "  not  yet 
known  "  in  cultivation,  he  would  most  likely  have 
heard  of  the  fame  of  so  great  a  variety  as  this.  But 
the  herbalists  do  make  frequent  mention  of  the 
"pineapple,"  which  three  hundred  years  ago  was 
the  common  name  for  the  cone  of  the  pine-tree,  not 
only  in  English,  but  in  the  French  and  German 
languages.  The'particular  kind  of  fir  which  was 
then  called  "  a  pine,  pinus"  as  distinguished  from 
"picea, the  pitch-tree"  (our  Scotch  fir)  and  " abies, 
firre"  (our  silver  fir),  seems,  to  judge  from  the  en- 
gravings, to  have  been  our  spruce  fir ;  still,  the 
cones  of  any  kind  of  fir  would,  no  doubt,  be  called 
"  pineapples."  It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that 
the  mode  of  growth  of  the  pineapple  was  not  mis- 
understood at  the  Heralds'  College,  but  that  the 
cones  of  the  fir-tree  were  intended  to  be  repre- 
sented. The  name  has  been  transferred  to  the 
fruit  of  Ananassa  sativa  from  its  superficial  resem- 
blauce  to  the  original  pineapple  ;  or  possibly,  because 
those  to  whom  it  was  first  sent  supposed  it  to  be  a 
gigantic  kiud  of  fir-cone,  as  indeed  the  old  names 
"King  Pine"  and  "Queen  Pine"  would  seem  to 
indicate. — Robert  Holland. 

Veronica  Bttxbatjmii. — A  good  many  localities 
have  of  late  been  mentioned  in  Science-Gossip, 
and  I  may  be  allowed  to  add  another  still  further 
north ;  viz.  Peebles,  where  it  is  at  present  to  be 
found  along  with  other  early-flowering  species. 
Lovers  of  nature  would,  perhaps,  find  a  visit  to 
Peebles  worth  while  in  the  summer  time,  as,  within 
the  past  few  years,  one  or  two  specimens  of  Deile- 
phila  galii  and  Sphinx  convolvuli  have  been  found 
along  with  other  more  common  insects,  while 
Rolyommatus  Arla.rer.res  has  hitherto  been  easily 


obtainable.    Of  flowering  plants,  ferns,  and  mosses 
there  is  also  a  good  variety.—/.  B.  L.,  Peebles. 

A  Triple  Primrose.— When  walking  out  this 
morning,  I  plucked  a  primrose,  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing is  a  description :  —  Calyx  li-fid,  corolla 
14-lobed,  stamens  14,  and  pistils  3,  two  being 
adnate,  and  the  other  solitary. — S.  M.,  Casterton. 

Gentian  (pp.  91, 119).— The  name  which  most 
nearly  corresponds  with  "Surge  et  ambula"  in  the 
emphatic  testimony  which  it  bears  to  the  virtues 
of  the  plant  owning  it,  is  the  French  "  Casse-lunettes" 
"  Break -your-spectacles,"  applied  to  "  Centaurea 
Cyanus.  I  know  of  no  similar  name  for  Gentian 
to  that  given  by  "R.  T. ;"  indeed,  our  Gentians 
are  singularly  deficient  in  English  names,  properly 
so  called.  "J.  R.  S.  C."  will  find  that  in  books 
it  is  Gentiana  Amarella,  not  G.  campestris,  that 
is  called  the  "Autumnal  Gentian."  The  name 
"  Yellow  Buckbean  "  is  an  absurd  book-invention, 
dating  from  the  time  when  our  Yillarsia  was 
placed  in  the  genus  Menyanthes,  and  originating 
in  the  notion  that  every  plant  must  have  an 
"  English  name ; "  it  is  in  every  way  inappropriate, 
as  no  one  but  a  botanist  would  recognize  the  affinity 
between  Yillarsia  and  Menyanthes.  If  "J.  R.  S.  C." 
means  that  the  nativity  or  existence  of  Gentiana 
nivalis  "is  perhaps  doubtful,"  I  may  inform  him 
that  both  are  satisfactorily  established.  Does  not 
Mrs.  YTatney  (p.  11 G)  mean  Agrimony  (Agrimonia 
Bupatoria),  instead  of  Hemp-Agrimony  (Eupatorkm 
cannabinum)  ?  "  Ground  vine  "  is,  of  course,  a 
misprint  for  "  ground  pine." — James  Britten. 

The  Larch  Blossoms. — During  the  spring,  the 
curious  and  pretty  adornments  displayed  by  the 
larch  twigs  attract  the  notice  even  of  those  who 
feel  little  interest  in  botany;  they  have  been  re- 
ferred to  by  Tennyson  also,  as  marking  a  particular 
period  in  connection  with  the  Thrush's  song : — 

"  When  rosy  plumelets  tuft  the  larch, 
And  rarely  pipes  the  mounted  thrush." 

Mr.  Newman  reports,  in  the  "Entomologist,"  on 
the  dictum  of  Professor  Oliver,  that  these  roses  in 
miniature  are  really  the  normal  female  blossoms. 
This  completely  upsets  the  ingenious  conjecture 
started  by  certain  folks,  that  they  were  due  to  the 
puncture  of  some  insect  of  the  gall -producing  family. 
-/.  R.  S.  C. 

Borrago  (vol.  vi.  p.  165,  &c).— As  my  difficulty 
about  the  reduplicated  form  of  this  word  has  not 
been  cleared  up  to  my  satisfaction,  I  give  the 
earliest  use  of  it  I  have  met  with.  It  occurs  in 
Tournefort,  "Elemens  de  Botanique"  (1691),  vol.  i. 
p.  109,  and  I  presume  Linnaeus  considers  this  to 
be  the  first  application  of  the  term  to  the  plant,  as 
he  cites  Tournefort  on  p.  Ill  of  his  "Philosophia 
Botanica"  (1770).— R.  T.,  2I.A. 


liO 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Bullets  in  Mounting. — In  the  last  number 
of  Science-Gossip  attention  is  called  to  the  use  of 
conical  bullets  in  putting  on  covers.  I  must  confess  I 
do  not  see  much  advantage  to  be  gained  by  so  doing, 
since  the  absence  of  bubbles  in  that  mode  of  action 
must  be   a  matter  of  chance.     By  using  fingers, 
forceps,  or  needle,  a  sight  is  obtained  of  the  object 
during  the  whole  time  of  mounting,  and  failure  is 
immediately  detected.    I  have 
used  Enfield  rifle    bullets  for 
applying   pressure  during  the 
hardening  of  cement  or  balsam  ; 
but    the    Enfield    bullet    can 
hardly  be    applied    as    above, 
owing  to  the  , hollow  in  its  base.    I  fancy  Dr.  Dick 
must    have    taken    his    statement]  from    an    old 
Erench   work   on  the    microscope    by  M.  Joblat, 
published  in  1718,  under  the  title  of  "Descriptions 
et  Usages  de  plusieurs  nouveaux  Microscopes." 
The  work  has    many  copper-plate  engravings,  in- 
cluding that  of  "  the  fine  mask,  with  cherclure,  in 
the  exact  form  of  a  human  face."     Your  corre- 
spondent may  judge  by  the  plates  therein  given  of 
some  rotifers  how  much  trust  can   be  placed  in 
M.  Joblat's  assertion. — B.  Daydon  Jackson. 

Fish-tail  Hairs  of  the  Humble  Bee. — Have 
any  of  your  readers  ever  noticed  the  fish-tail  hairs 
on  the  leg  of  the  Humble  Bee  ?    If  not,  permit  me 
to  call  your  attention  to  a  form  which  seems  to  me 
very  curious.    Eirst,  catch  your  bee.    A  good  im- 
promptu way  of  doing  this  is  to  watch  a  bee,  till 
he  (more  properly,  she)  settles  on  the  ground,  or 
pries  into  a  hole  in  the  soil,  and  then  throw  your 
handkerchief  over  the  spot.     The  bee  will  soon 
buzz  up,  and  make  a  ballon  monte  of  your  bandana. 
Give  him  more  silk,  and  then  constrict  below,  to 
cut  off  his  retreat.     He  may  object  to  this  by  his 
peculiar  mode  of  veto, — to  "wit,  his  sting.    But  this 
will  not  be  altogether  without  advantage ;  for  there 
is  a  popular  notion  that  the  Humble  Bee  has  no 
sting ;  and  if  the  operator's  finger  for  the  next  two 
days  at  all  resembles  mine,  he  will  not  readily  forget 
this  point  of  Natural  History.     On  reaching  home, 
you  open  the  handkerchief,  bee  flies  to  window,  you 
put  a  wide-mouthed  diatom-bottle  over  him,  slip  a 
card  between  the  mouth  of  the  bottle  and  the 
window-pane,  add  chloroform  to  your  taste,   and 
Bombus  is  ready  for  the  next  operation.    With  a 
penknife  scrape  off  the  hairs  that  grow  on  the  out- 
side of  the  tibia  (the  joint  next  to  the  brush) :  they 
will  probably  adhere  to  the  knife -point  in  a  cluster, 
but  may  be  separated  by  putting  a  small  drop  of 
water  on  a  slide,  and  then  distributing  them  in  it 
with  a  needle.  Mount  some  dry  and  some  in  balsam, 
for  each  method  has  something  to  show.     Here  is  a 
rough  sketch  of  what  I  make  out  with  a  Ross's 


sixth.  The  hair  is  round,  or  nearly  so,  till  close  to 
the  apex,  but  not  smooth,  for  the  surface  seems  10 
be  ribbed  spirally.  There  is  a  medulla,  best  seen 
in  the  balsam.  But  the  curious  part  of  the  hair  is 
the  tip,  where  it  thins  away,  and  spreads  out  in  the 
form  of  a  fish's  tail ;  a  form  that  it  further  resem- 
bles in  being  marked  with  delicate  striae  running 
to  the  edge  like  a  fan.  There  is  also  a  sort  of 
angular  mark,  of  which  the  open  end  is  towards  the 
apex,  and  the  point  towards  the  shaft.  The  thinned 


Fig.  73.  Fish-tail  Hair  of  Humble  Bee. 


portion  is  quite  hyaline,  but  the  shaft  is  brown. 
The  hyaline  tips  of  these  hairs  may  be  seen  with  a 
low  power  (about  forty  diameters)  like  little  bright 
specks  all  over  the  tibia,  and  a  few  on  the  femur. 
Hairs  of  analogous  form  appear  on  the  tibia  of 
Apis  mellifica,  but,  of  course,  much  smaller. — 
H.  B.,  Woolwich. 

Scale  or  Common  Carp.— In  furnishing  towards 
our  series  of  the  scales  of  the  British  freshwater 
fishes,  the  figure  of  the  scale  of  the  Common  Carp, 
we  must  ask  our  readers  to  compare  this  scale  with 


Fig.  T4.  Scale  of  Common  Carp. 

those  of  the  Crucian  and  Prussian  Carp,  already 
figured,  and  they  will  observe  that  it  differs  much 
more  from  either  than  those  differ  from  each  other. 
It  is  a  very  beautiful  and  characteristic  scale. 

Pollen  for  Microscope.— Those  who  desire 
to  mount  pollen  for  the  microscope  should  specially 
direct  their  attention  lo  the  Composite  and  Mal- 
vaceous  plants. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ilL 


SOCIETIES. 

South  London  Microscopical  and  Natural 
History  Club. — Meetings  held  at  Glo'ster  Hall, 
6,  Glo'ster  Place,  Brixton,  S.W.,  on  the  third 
Tuesday  in  each  month.  President,  Henry  Dean, 
Esq.,  F.L.S.,  E.R.M.S.,  &c.  The  objects  are- 
First.  To  enable  microscopists  and  lovers  of  Na- 
tural History,  residing  in  the  district,  to  meet 
and  interchange  communications  and  specimens  at 
stated  intervals ;  to  exhibit  objects  likely  to  prove 
interesting  to  the  members  and  visitors ;  to  promote 
the  acquisition  of  skill  in  the  use  of  the  microscope, 
and  an  acquaintance  with  the  manifold  beauties  of 
nature,  which,  invisible  by  unaided  vision,  are  so 
marvellously  revealed  by  our  modern  instruments. 
Second.  By  lectures  aud  papers,  to  afford  instruc- 
tion to  the  younger  members  in  the  use  of  the 
microscope  and  preparation  of  objects,  and  to 
develop  a  taste  for  the  study  of  Zoology  and 
Botany.  Third.  By  occasional  excursions  into  the 
country  around,  to  investigate  the  natural  produc- 
tions of  the  district,  and  procure  fresh  materials 
for  observation,  which  eventually  may  lead  to  the 
formation  of  a  cabinet  and  herbarium,  illustrative 
of  the  indigenous  Eauna  and  Elora  of  East  Surrey. 
Annual  subscription,  ten  shillings.  The  Hon. 
Secretary  is  Mr.  E.  Hovenden,  63,  Augell  Road, 
Brixton. 

Quekett  Microscopical  Club.  —  Meetings 
held,  by  permission  of  the  Council,  at  University 
College,  Gower  Street,  on  the  second  Friday  in 
each  month  for  the  exhibition  of  microscopic 
objects,  and  mutual  gossip  on  microscopical  sub- 
jects; and  on  the  fourth  Friday  in  each  month  for 
papers  and  discussion.  President,  Professor  Lionel 
S.  Beale,  M.B.,  F.R.S.,  F.R.M.S.,  &c.  The  objects 
are  thus  stated  in  the  original  prospectus :— The 
want  of  such  a  club  as  the  present  has  long  been 
felt,  wherein  microscopists  and  students  with 
kindred  tastes  might  meet  at  stated  periods  to  hold 
cheerful  converse  with  each  other,  exhibit  and  ex- 
change specimens,  read  papers  on  topics  of  interest, 
discuss  doubtful  points,  compare  notes  of  progress, 
and  gossip  over  those  special  subjects  in  which  they 
are  more  or  less  interested ;  where,  in  fact,  eao'i 
member  would  be  solicited  to  bring  his  own  in. 
dividual  experience,  be  it  ever  so  small,  and  cast  it 
into  the  treasury  for  the  general  good.  Such  are 
*ome  of  the  objects  which  the  present  club  seeks  to 
attain.  In  addition  thereto  it  hopes  to  organize 
occasional  field  excursions,  at  proper  seasons,  for 
the  collection  of  living  specimens,  to  acquire  a 
library  of  such  books  of  reference'  as  will  be  most 
useful  to  inquiring  students ;  and,  trusting  to  the 
proverbial  liberality  of  microscopists,  to  add  thereto 
a  comprehensive  cabinet  of  objects.    By  these,  and 


similar  means,  the  Quekett  Microscopical  Club 
seeks  to  merit  the  support  of  all  earnest  men  who 
may  be  devoted  to  such  pursuits  ;  and,  by  fostering 
and  encouraging  a  love  for  microscopical  studies,  to 
deserve  the  approval  of  men  of  science  and  more 
learned  societies."  Excursions  on  alternate  Satur- 
days. Annual  subscription  ten  shillings.  The  Hon. 
Secretary  is  Mr.  T.  C.  White,  F.R.M.S.,  32,  Bel- 
grave  Road,  S.W. 

North  London  Naturalists'  Club  meets  at 
the  Priory  Schools,  Upper  Street,  Islington,  on  the 
fourth  Thursday  in  each  month,  at  eight  o'clock, 
President,  W.  Hislop,  Esq.,  F.R.A.S.,  for  the  read- 
ing and  discussion  of  papers,  &c.  Excursions  are 
organized  during  the  summer  season,  of  which  due 
notice  is  given  to  the  members.  There  is  also  a 
Book  Society  in  connection  with  the  Club,  limited 
to  members  living  in  the  vicinity  of  the  place 
of  meeting,  to  which  the  subscription  is  eight 
shillings  per  annum.  The  annual  subscription  to 
the  Club  is  five  shillings,  without  entrance-fee. 
Honorary  Secretary,  'Mr.  J.  Slade,  No.  100,  Barns- 
bury  Road,  N. 

Croydon  Microscopical  Club,  established 
April  6th,  1S70.  President,  Henry  Lee,  Esq., 
F.L.S.,  F.G.S.,  F.R.M.S.,&c.  Meetings  held  at 
the  Literary  and  Scientific  Institution  on  the  third 
Wednesday  in  each  month.  The  objects  of  the  club 
are  the  discussion  of  subjects  connected  with,  or 
dependent  upon  microscopical  research  ;  the  exhibi- 
tion and  exchange  of  microscopic  objects  and  pre- 
parations ;  and  the  promotion  of  the  study  of 
microscopy  and  natural  history  generally,  and  espe- 
cially the  natural  history  of  the  neighbourhood  and 
of  the  county  of  Surrey.  With  this  latter  object  in 
view,  the  Croydon  Microscopical  Club  cultivates  the 
most  cordial  relations  with  similar  societies,  and 
negotiations  are  under  consideration  for  concerted 
and  united  action  with  many  such  clubs  and 
societies  in  furtherance  of  the  objects  for  which 
they  were  instituted.  The  present  number  of 
members  is  135.  The  annual  subscription  is  ten 
shillings,  and  the  Honorary  Secretary  is  Mr.  Henry 
Long,  90,  High-street,  Croydon. 

Old  Change  Microscopical  Club. — This  so- 
ciety was  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  the  young 
men  in  Messrs.  Leaf,  Coles,  &  Co.'s  establishment, 
and  is  not,  so  we  are  informed,  open  to  the  general 
public  for  membership. 

Quekett  Club  Excursion  Dinner.  —  The 
animal  dinner  of  the  excursionists  is  fixed  for  the 
22nd  of  June,  and  will  take  place  at  the  Swan  Inn, 
Leatherhead.  Tickets  and  particulars  may  be  had 
from  any  member  of  the  Excursion  Committee. 


142 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Borax  and  Cockroaches. — I  see  in  last  month's 
Science-Gossip  a  note  relative  to  borax  and  cock- 
roaches, as  reprinted  from  the  "  Journal  of  Applied 
Science."  I  saw  the  same  note  in  March  last,  in 
the  "Pharmaceutical  Journal,"  as  an  extract  from 
the  "New  York  Druggists'  Circular."  Jt  may 
interest  some  of  your  readers  to  know,  that  as  to 
"there  being  something:  peculiar  in  smell  or  touch 
which  is  certain  death,"  having  tried  it,  I  did  not 
find  it  so.  I  caught  a  large  cockroach  one  night, 
placed  it  in  a  glass,  from  which  there  was  no  chance 
of  escape,  then  covered  it  in  borax  and  left  it  for 
the  night.  Next  morning,  instead  of  being  stupid  or 
dead,  it  was  as  lively  as  ever,  and  had  cleaned  off 
most  of  the  powder.  Knowing  cockroaches  are 
fond  of  sweets,  I  mixed  some  with  honey,  and  laid  it 
about,  without  finding  any  perceptible  diminution 
of  their  number.  Some  of  your  correspondents  may 
be  induced  to  make  further  use  of  the  borax,  for 
if  of  any  use,  it  would  be  a  desirable  "  Killer." 
— C,  W.  II.  Andrews. 

Earthworms. — Perhaps  the  following  extract 
from  one  of  Mrs.  Loudon's  works  on  gardening  may 
prove  useful  to  yo.ur  correspondent.  She  says— 
"The  common  earthworm  (Lumbricus  terrestris)  is 
a  most  destructive  creature  in  flowerpots ;  it  has 
been  ascertained  that  worms  swallow  earthy  matter, 
and  that,  after  having  deprived  it  of  its  nourishing 
properties,  they  eject  the  remainder  in  the  form  of 
what  are  called  worm-casts,  and  which  instinct 
teaches  them  to  throw  out  of  their  burrows  to  the 
surface,  that  they  may  not  be  in  danger  of  swallow- 
ing it  again.  To  find  fresh  earth,  the  worm  is^  con- 
tinually incited  to  penetrate  the  ground  in  different 
directions ;  while,  after  each  repast  it  is  induced 
to  return  to  the  surface  to  eject  its  cast ;  and  thus 
ground  inhabited  by  worms  is  sure  to  be  perforated 
and  pulverized."  I  may  add  that  the  best  way  to 
destroy  them  when  they  disfigure  the  surface  of  a 
lawn,  is  to  scrape  off  the  castings,  and  then,  if  the 
surface  be  watered  with  lime-water,  all  the  worms 
will  die.  However,  the  propriety  of  this  proceeding 
is  considered  doubtful,  because  the  common  earth- 
worm by  its  borings  renders  the  substratum  some- 
what like  a  sieve,  and  thus  affords  excellent 
drainage.  If  it  were  not  for  them,  lawns  would 
long  continue  swampy  after  heavy  rain.  —  /.  S. 
William,  Durham. 

Fotjlkes's  Cement. — There  is  a  fluid  cement 
coming  much  into  use  for  domestic  purposes,  called 
"  Eoulkes's  Cement,"  which  seems  to  be  very  valu- 
able. It  does  not  seem,  so  far  as  can  be  judged 
from  colour  or  smell,  to  contain  any  of  the  cements 
commonly  used  by  microscopists,  either  those 
applied  with  heat  or  without  it.  None  of  those 
cements  is  nearly  so  easy  or  convenient  to  work 
with.  Perhaps  some  of  your  practical  corre- 
spondents would  be  kind  enough  to  give  their 
opinion  whether  it  could  be  relied  upon  for  the 
purposes  of  microscopists — in  the  place,  for  ex- 
ample, of  marine  glue.  I  find  it  succeeds  with 
broken  plates,  on  which  marine  glue  always  fails  in 
my  hands,  apparently  from  not  getting  a  proper 
surface  to  catch  hold  of.  If  it  could  be  depended 
on  as  a  general  cement  for  cells,  &c,  it  would  be  a 
great  gain,  being  quite  as  easy  to  work  with  as 
common  gum.— S.  L..B. 

Tea-chests.— Can  any  one  tell  me  of  what  tree 
or  trees  these,  say  China,  boxes  are  made? — J.  II.  L. 


Earthworms. — If  Mr.  Wilkinson  will  use  the 
following,  he  will  get  clear  of  the  worms  : — Dissolve 
1  oz.  of  corrosive  sublimate  in  2  oz.  of  hydrochloric 
acid;  put  one  or  two  table-spoonfuls  into  the  can 
full  of  water  ;  stir  well  with  a  stick,  and  use.  The 
worms  will  come  out  and  die ;  pick  them  up,  and 
put  out  of  the  way  of  any  fowls,  it  being  a  strong 
■poison.  It  will  not  injure  the  grass.  Mr.  W.  must 
not  use  it  in  the  kitchen  garden. — E.  Winder,  Lan- 
caster. 

Anemone  Infusoria. — I  have  not  seen  Dr. 
Dick's  treatise  on  the  "Telescope  and  Microscope," 
referred  to  by  "  W."  in  the  last  number  of  Science- 
Gossip;  but  I  should  imagine,  he  only  states  that 
an  animalcule  of  the  kind  described  is  said_  to  be 
found  in  the  anemone  infusion,  the  authority  for 
which  is  Joblot's  "  Observations  d'Histoire  Na- 
turelle  faites  avec  le  Microscope,"  1754,  who  (at 
part  2,  p.  57)  says,  "La  nature  qui  se  plait  a 
diversifier  ses  productions,  et  qui  se  fait  admirer 
dans  tous  ses  ouvrages,  continue  a  nous  en  donner 
des  preuves  dans  cette  infusion  d'anemone,  pre- 
pared a  1'ordinaire  avec  de  l'eau  commune,  puisqu'au 
bout  d'environ  hurt  jours  on  apercut  dans  une 
goutte  de  cette  infusion  uu  animal  nouveau. 
Tout  le  dessus  de  son  corps  est  couvert  d'un  beau 
masque  bien  forme,  de  figure  humaine,  parfaite- 
ment  bien  fait."  And  a  figure,  represt-nting  this 
human  face  with  six  legs,  will  be  found  at  plate  6, 
fig.  12.— F.  C.  S.  Roper. 

Tritons.— In  SciENCE-Gossipforthis  month  (May) 
E.  Halse,  of  Notting  Hill,  wishes  to  know  if  Triton 
cristatus  really  does  feed  on  Lissotriton.  punctatus. 
Some  years  since  I'  caught  several  specimens  of 
these  reptiles  in  the  ponds  on  Wimbledon  Common, 
and  kept  them  in  a  large  glass  tank  full  of  water, 
and  have  often  seen  the  Triton  cristatus  seize  the 
Lissotriton  punctatus  by  the  head,  and  swallow  it 
whole,  without  any  apparent  difficulty,  the  latter 
offering  but  little  resistance  to  the  operation.  The 
meal  seemed  to  satisfy  the  Triton  for  some  days. — 
Alfred  Woodforde. 

Water- Snake.  —  There  is  a  sort  of  fish  (I 
suppose)  fouud  in  springs  here ;  it  is  about  a  foot 
or  fifteen  inches  long,  and  about  as  thick  as  a  stout 
horsehair,  called  here  a  "  water-snake."  I  should 
be  obliged  if  some  one  would  kindly  tell  me  what 
it  is.  The  common  belief  here  is,  that  it  is  a  horse- 
hair come  to  life ;  and  that  if  you  put  horsehairs 
from  the  mane  or  tail  into  a  spring,  in  about  a  fort- 
night they  will  come  to  life ;  also,  that  there  is  a 
strict,  law,  with  heavy  penalties,  against  any  one 
putting  horsehair  into  springs.  •  This  may  interest 
some  collector  of  odd  superstitions. — W.  C.  P., 
Whitebrook,  ?iear  Monmouth. 

Cotswold  Lion  (Science- Gossir,  May,  1S71, 
p.  11-1).— Cotswold  Lions.  Sheep.  "Have  at  the 
lyons  on  Cotsolde,"  Thersites,  ap.  Collier,  ii.  401. 
"Halli well's  Dictionary."—  W.  W.  King. 

The  Lotus.— "A.  H.  A."  should  consult  "Illus- 
trations of  the  Lotus  of  the  Ancients  and  Tamara 
of  India,"  by  R.  Duppa,  LL.B.  London  :  printed 
by  Bensley  and  Son,  Bolt  Court,  1S1G.— C. 

Cammocke  (p.  114)  — Halliwell  gives  the  follow- 
ing explanation  of  this  word:—"  Cammock,a  crooked 
tree  or  beam;  timber  prepared  for  the  knee  ot  a 
ship.  'As  crooked  as  a  Cammocke.'  —  Mother 
Bombie.  'Though  the  Cammock,  the  more  it  is 
bowed  the  better4t  is;  yet  the  bow,  the  more  it  is 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


143 


bent  and  occupied,  the  weaker  it  waxeth.'—  Lilly's 
JEuphues."  The  meaning  of  the  quotation  is  thus 
apparent. — Robert  Holland. 

Hornet  Sting. — Reading  an  old  number  of  your 
periodical  (January  1st,  ISfiS),  I  met  with  the  fol- 
lowing remark  relating  to  hornets  : — "  Fortunately 
the  family  has  received  but  little  or  no  annoyance 
from  these  pugnacious,  and  often  malignant  crea- 
tures." Now,  hornets  are  very  common  in  this 
district :  last  year  we  captured  a  score  or  more 
in  the  house.  The  people  of  the  district  express 
great  horror  of  them,  but  fail  to  give  me  a  reason 
for  it ;  as,  when  I  ask  them  (and  I  have  inquired  of 
many)  if  they  have  ever  heard  of  any  one  being 
stung  by  a  hornet,  the  universal  answer  has  been, 
"No."  Perhaps  some  one  of  your  correspondents, 
whose  experience  has  been  less  satisfactory,  will 
give  some  information  as  to  the  effect  of  the  sting 
of  the  hornet,  as  compared  with  that  of  the  bee  or 
the  wasp. — Edmund  Tonics. 

Dolomitic  Conglomerate.—  Your  correspondent 
in  the  April  number,  writing  about  the  fossils  in 
the  "Dolomitic  Conglomerate,"  near  Frome,  has 
evidently  been  working  in  that  remarkable  pebbly 
conglomerate,  which  Mr.  Charles  Moore  defines  to 
be  of  Rhsetic  age.  As  he  is  apparently  unacquainted 
with  Mr.  Moore's  valuable  researches  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood, allow  me  to  refer  him  to  a  paper  on  the 
"  Abnormal  Conditions  of  Secondary  Deposits  when 
connected  with  the  Somersetsihre  and  South  Wales 
Coal-basin,"  Quart.  Journ.  Geolog.  Soc,  vol.  xxiii., 
where,  at  pages  488-90,  he  will  find  his  questions 
answered,  and  a  good  description  given  of  those 
instructive  sections  in  the  Vallis.— II.  II.  Wimwood. 

The  Name  Pine- Apple  (p.  114). — There  is  little 
doubt  that  the  original  "  pine-apple  tree  "  was  Pinus 
sylvestris  ;  and  that  the  Ananassa  took  the  name 
from  the  resemblance  of  its  fruit  to  a  fir-cone,  aided 
perhaps  by  the  belief  that  it,  too,  grew  upon  a  tree. 
Parkinson  speaks  of  the  "  West  Indian  delitious 
Pines,"  as  being  "  like  to  a  cone  of  the  Pine-tree, 
which  we  call  a  Pine  Apple  for  the  forme ; "  he  also 
says,  "  The  Spaniards  and  Portugalls  call  it  Pinas, 
from  the  likenesse,  and  so  doe  most  countryes,  fol- 
lowing that  name."  (See  Theatrum  Boianicum, 
p.  1626,  for  other  matter  bearing  on  the  subject.) 
Fir-cones  are  referred  to  as  "pine-apples"  in  "Good 
Words  for  the  Young,"  1869,  p.  344 ;  and  Halliwell 
gives  "  Fir-apples  "  and  "  Deal-apples."  From 
North  Yorkshire  1  have  "  Berk-apples."  Of  course, 
"Apple  "  is  a  general  term  for  a  fruit,  as  "  Apples 
of  Sodom,"  "Love-apple;"  aud  it  is  even  applied 
to  objects  which  are  not  fruit,  although  resembling 
them,  as  "  Oak-apple." — James  Britten. 

Awbe:  Acanthis  (p.  119). — lam  no  ornitholo- 
gist, but  I  think  I  have  seen  the  former  name  applied 
to  the  Bullfinch  in  some  old  work.  Is  not  "  the 
Byrde  Acanthis"  likely  to  be  the  Goldfinch? — James 
Britten. 

Naturalist's  Dredge.— I  shall  be  glad  to 
know  where  and  at  what  price  a  naturalist's  dredge 
can  be  obtained. — G.  H.  H.  Row,  Foster-lane, 
Cheapside. 

_  Gentian"  (pp.  91,  116,  118).— My  query  was 
simple, — is  there  an  English  equivalent  for  the 
"  Surge  et  ambula"  of  Linnaeus  ?  (p.  91) ;  whereas 
my  respondents  run  off  into  the  virtues  of  Gentian 
and  allied  plants, — information  to  be  found  inLindley 
and  Moore's  "  Treasury  of  Botany  "  under  Gentiana, 
and  elsewhere.— B.  T.,  M.J. . 


A  Budget  of  Queries.— Will  any  of  your  readers 
have  the  goodness  to  inform  me  where  I  can  find 
any  researches  on  the  following  subjects? — 1.  Grow- 
ing flowers  under  glasses  of  different  colours.  2.  Ou 
the  effects  of  placing  full-blown  flowers  in  the  dark. 
3.  On  the  restoration  of  faded  colour  on  silk,  or 
other  materials,  by  placing  them  in  darkness.  4.  On 
the  change  of  colour  in  certain  animals  in  winter. 
5.  A.uy  experiments  demonstrating  the  effects  of  sun- 
shine on  a  common  fire.  6.  On  the  phenomena 
resulting  from  examination  of  the  blind  fish  in  the 
river  of  the  Mammoth  Caves  of  Kentucky.  7.  Some 
years  ago  Professor  Daubeny,  of  Oxford,  made  some 
experiments  on  vegetables  placed  under  coloured 
glasses;  and  about  the  same  time  I  made  some  on 
the  colours  of  flowers,  with  a  different  object.  I 
dare  say  all  the  subjects  to  which  I  have  referred 
have  been  examined,  but  I  cannot  find  where. — 
G.  J.  W. 

The  Descent  of  Man  ("C.  E.").— This  corre- 
spondent, opposed  though  he  may  be,  and  honestly, 
to  the  Darwinian  theory,  should  not  forget  that 
abuse  is  not  argument ;  and  that,  if  he  really  feels 
himself  competent  to  break  a  lance  with  Mr.  Darwin 
or  his  disciples,  he  must  first  of  all  read  the  "De- 
scent of  Man "  carefully ;  and  then,  not  forgetting 
that  his  opponent  is  a  gentleman,  and  one  of  very 
considerable  attainments,  he  may  proceed  to  the 
attack  in  the  spirit  of  a  gentleman.  Whether  we 
are  prepared  to  accept  Darwinism  or  not,  we  should 
certainly  decline,  even  as  a  strong  opponent,  to 
insert  such  a  communication.  If  "  C.  E."  desires 
to  succeed  as  a  controversialist,  he  must  learn  to 
conquer  the  temptation  to  indulge  in  personalities. 
Once  for  all,  we  may  as  well  state  that,  although 
we  have  no  desire  to  give  up  space  to  such  a 
lengthened  controversy  as  this  subject  of  the 
"Descent  of  Man"  would  involve,  we  should  not 
offer  the  slightest  objection  to,  but  rather  welcome, 
a  thoroughly  logical  and  gentlemanly  refutation  of 
the  theory,  if  any  one  thinks  that  such  a  theory  can 
be  disproved.  If  it  were  such  an  easy  matter  as 
"  C.  E."  supposes,  he  may  rely  upon  it  that  the 
conflict  would  not  be  left  to  him. 

Earthworms. — My  own  little  garden  and  lawn 
was,  last  year  (like  that  of  your  correspondent  in 
your  last  number,  "H.  E.  Wilkinson  "),  so  infested 
with  earthworms,  as  to  be  a  source  of  great  trouble 
and  annoyance  to  me.  I  am  now  comparatively 
free  from  them,  and  would  recommend  the  following 
simple  method  of  dealing  with  them.  At  early 
morning,  or  after  a  warm  shower,  when  they  are 
generally  near  the  surface,  mix  a  small  quantity  of 
corrosive  sublimate  with  water  (about  half  a  gill  to 
an  ordinary-sized  watering-pot  will  be  sufficient), 
and  well  saturate  the  lawn  or  path.  In  half  a 
minute  its  effects  will  be  seen  by  bringing  to  the 
surface  all  within  its  reach.  They  may  be  gathered 
up  into  some  vessel,  and  their  destruction  hastened 
by  a  good  sprinkling  of  common  salt.  If  they  are 
numerous,  as  in  the  case  of  your  correspondent, 
three  or  four  square  yards  would  be  found  sufficient 
to  be  watered  at  a  time.  I  may  add,  that  I  think 
the  grass  of  my  lawn  is  rather  improved  than  other- 
wise by  the  operation. — W.  Groombridge,  Brixton. 

Bleaching  Zoophytes. — I  have  seen  Sertularian 
zoophytes  mounted  for  the  microscope,  that  have 
been  beautifully  bleached  until  white  as  ivory.  Can 
any  one  give  a  hint  of  the  process  ?  Chloride  of 
lime  does  not  accomplish  it;  at  least  I  have  not 
succeeded  to  the  extent  desired. — B.  W. 


Ill 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 

J.  C.  H.— The  subscription  list  to  the  "  Handbook  of  British 
Fungi "  was  closed  in  July  last.  It  will  be  published  com- 
plete in  a  few  weeks. 

W.  C.  H.-We  should  not  insert  such  a  paragraph  without 
some  less  romantic  attestation  or  explanation. 

E.  L.  (Hull)  and  •'  Ignoramus."— We  insert  no  queries, 
unless  accompanied  by  name  and  address  of  querist,  written 
legibly. 

G.  M.  G.— Sphagnum  tubsecundum.—R.  B. 

T.  R.—  Hypnum  molluscum  /3  condensatum,  a  peculiar  form 
with  leaves  scarcely  curved. — It.  B. 

J.  C.  D.— No.  1.  Grimmiu  apocurpa.  No.  2.  Madotheca 
platyphylla.—R.  B. 

E.  M.  P.— See  our  answer  to  L.  M.  C.  in  last  number  of 

Sl'IKNCE-GoSSIP. 

H.  B.— Nothing  very  extraordinary  in  a  bird  so  easily  tamed. 

A.  D.  R.—Flustru  membranacea.  Get  Landsborough's 
"  British  Zoophytes,"  about  six  shillings,  published  by 
Routledge  &  Co. 

H.  T.— So  long  ago,  but  we  think  it  was  a  failure. 

H.  T.   (Oxford).— Try  Dulau  &  Co.,  Soho  Square,  London. 

A.  N.— No.  1.  If  you  mean  the  "  Musk  Deer,"  it  is  grami- 
nivorous, like  other  deer.  No.  2.  No.  No.  3.  Conferva  in 
any  stagnant  ditch.  No.  4.  We  do  not  think  you  will  be  'cute 
enough  to  find  truffles. 

E.  S.  We  can  only  recommend  a  free  use  of  water,  chloride 
of  lime,  and  even  of  fumigation  with  sulphur. 

R.  V.  T. — The  yellow  Lichen  is  Placodium  fulgens,  Sm.  ; 
the  other,  Lecidea  vesicularis,  Hoffm.  —  L.  L. 

j.  s.-We  cannot  comprehend  your  design,  the  query  is  so 
vague. 

R.  L  —  The"  Journal  of  the  Quekett  Club"  (one  shilling) 
may  be  had  of  Robert  Hardwicke,  192,  Piccadilly. 

W.  H.— It  is  declared  to  be  Clausiliu  nigricans,  sent  to 
Worthing  by  post. 

R.  S.  H.  (Basingstoke).— The  shells  so  very  long  in  hand 
are  referred  to  Lymnxa  stagnate,  without  doubt,  but  are  a 
peculiar  form. 

S.  T.— For  "Insect  catalogues"  see  paragraph  under 
"  Zoology  "  in  the  present  number. 

S.  W.— A  good  quill,  a  bad  cork,  some  cotton  wool,  but  not 
a  shadow  of  votvox  came  to  hand. 

F.  B.—Hypecoum  grandiflorum,  Benth.  A  native  of  Spain 
and  the  East. — B. 

J.  F. — It  is  Pitccinia  Buxi. 

T.  B. — On  bark  Hysterium  angustatum. 

J.  A. — On  Gagea  lutea  is  Uromyces  concentrica. 

F.  R.  S.—"  American  Naturalist"  may  be  had  of  Trtlbner 
&  Co.,  Paternoster  Row.  Price  35  cents  a  number,  or  four 
dollars  a  year. 

T.  H.— It  would  have  been  satisfactory,  perhaps,  had  you 
whispered  in  your  clever  Toad's  hearing  your  great  desire  to 
know  why  he  swallowed  a  spider. 

H.  E.— Fossils  from  the  Cornbrash  of  Peterborough,  are 
the  Serpula  quadrata  of  Phillips,  described  in  his  "Geology 
ot  Yorkshire,"  vol.  i.  p.  117  (found  in  the  Cornbrash  of 
Newton  Dale,  Yorkshire).  They  do  not  however  branch  as 
H.  E.  states.— H.  W. 


EXCHANGES. 

Several  named  species  of  fossil  Foraminifera  from  the  Lias 
of  the  North  of  Ireland,  for  any  good  microscopic  objects  of 
equal  value.  First  send  list  to  Wm.  Gray,  Mount  Charles, 
Belfast. 

Wanted,  a  specimen  of  Ophioglossum  milgatum,  for  Asple- 
nium  septentriunale  or  other  fern.— J.  B.  Lyall,  Peebles. 

Wanted,  B.  Land  and  F.  W.  Shells  in  Exchange  for  others 
or  Lcpidoptera. — W.  H.  Broadhead,  Chapel  Allerton,  Leeds. 

jEcidi'JM  ViOLffl,  JE.  ranunculacearnm ,  Puccinia  urn- 
hdliferarum,  and  other  Fungi,  for  other  objects.— T.  Brittain, 
Park  Street,  Green  Heys,  Manchester. 

Deutzia  Scabka  offered  for  stamped  address  and  any 
object  of  interest.  Lists  exchanged. — Address  Dr.  Webb,  108, 
White  Rock-street.  Liverpool. 

London  Catalogue  op  Plants,  6th  Edition,  Nos.  34, 
62,  154,  677,  1077,  1255,  and  others,  for  any  of  the  following: 
Nos.  03,  289,  292,  302,  424,  483,  491,  652,  686,  700,711,873.876, 
965,  1043,  1047,  1049,  1064,  1095,  1242.— F.  A.  Lees,  Mean- 
wood,  Leeds. 

LARV4K  or  Pupre  of  Orgyia  facelina  for  local  larvce  or 
pnpee  or  imagos. —  F.  R.  S.  Salterheble,  Halifax. 

For  hair  of  Vampire  Bat  and  Opossum  send  envelope 
and  object  to  E.  J.  Wilson,  43,  Upper  Cumming-street,  Pen- 
tonvillc,  N. 

Wanted,  Stratiote.i  Aloides,  or  Water-Soldier,  and  Subu- 
laria  aquatica,  orAwlwort,  in  exchange  for  other  aquatic 
plants.     Address  David  Mitchell,  Foundry-street,  Halifax. 

Batrachospermum  Moniliporme. — For  this  alga,  send 
stamp  and  object  (other  alga?  preferred)  to  H.  M.  J.  Under- 
bill, 7,  High-street,  Oxford. 


Wanted,  the  scales  of  Tench,  Chub,  Bleak,  Carp,  Snig 
Eel  and  Gudgeon,  in  exchange  for  others.  Send  list  to 
J.  H.  M.  17,  Walham  Grove,  St  John's,  Kulham,  S.W. 

Ox  Parasites.— For  stamped  envelope  and  any  object  of 
interest  (seeds  excepted)— J.  Sargent,  Jun.,  Fritchley,  near 
Derby. 

Palate  op  Limpet  (unmounted),  send  stamped  envelope, 
or  anything  of  interest.— R.  H.  Alderman,  14,  Coal  Exchange, 
E.C. 

British  and  Foreign  Shells,  for  Marine  Animals.— 
Wm.  Cash,  1,  Clarence-street,  Halifax. 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

"Third  Annual  Report  on  the  Noxious,  Beneficial,  and 
other  Insects  of  the  State  of  Missouri."  By  Charles  V.  Riley, 
State  Entomologist.     Jefferson  City,  Mo. 

"Monthly  Microscopical  Journal."  No  29.  May,  1871. 
London,  Robert  Hardwicke. 

"  George  W.  Childs."  A  Biographical  Sketch  by  James 
Parton.     Philadelphia,  U.S. 

"  Land  and  Water."     Nos.  275.  276.  277.  278. 
"Journal  of  Applied  Science."   Edited  by  P.  L.  Simmonds. 
May,  18"1. 

"Report  of  the  Fruit-Growers'  Association  of  Ontario  for 
1870,"  including  the  "  First  Report  on  the  Noxious  Insects 
of  Ontario."    Toronto.'187l. 

"  The  Gold  Yield  of  Nova  Scotia."     By  A.  Heatherington. 
I860- 70.     London:  Trilbner  &  Co. 
"The  Gardener's  Magazine,"  for  May,  1871. 
"  The  Animal  World,"  for  May,  1871. 

"The  American  Journal  of  Microscopy."    No.  1.    April, 
1871.    E.  M.  Hale,  M.D.,  Editor.     Chicago  :  G.  Mead  &  Co. 
"  Crystal  Palace  Aquarium."  Prospectus. 
"  Notice  of  a  Fossil  Forest  in  the  Tertiary  of  California." 
By  Professor  O.  C.  Marsh,  of  Yale  College. 

"  On  the  Geology  of  the  Eastern  Uintah  Mountains."  By 
Professor  O.  C.  Marsh,  of  Yale  College. 

"  Description  of  some  new  Fossil  Serpents  from  the  Ter- 
tiary Deposits  of  Wyoming."  By  Professor  O.  C.  Marsh,  of 
Yale  College. 

"  Clever  Dogs,  Horses,  Sec,  with  Anecdotes  of  other 
Animals."  By  Shirley  Hibberd.  London :  S.  W.  Partridge 
&Co. 

"  Animal  Sagacity."  Edited  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall.  London: 
S.  W.  Partridge  &  Co. 

"  Our  Feathered  Companions."  By  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Jackson,  M.A.     London  :  S.  W.  Partridge  &  Co. 

"  The  Canadian  Naturalist."  Vol.  V.,  No.  3.  Sept.,  1870. 
Montreal :  Dawson  Brothers. 

"  Memoirs  of  the  Peabody  Academy  of  Science."  No.  2. 
(No.  1  not  received.)  "  Embryological  Studies  on  Diplax, 
Perithemis,  and  the  Thysanurous  Genus  Isotoma."  By  A.  S. 
Packard,  Jun.    Salem,  Mass. 

"  Materialistic  Theories  :  a  Lecture  delivered  in  connection 
with  the  Christian  Evidence  Society."'  By  the  Archbishop  of 
York.     London  :  Hodder  &  Stoughton. 

"  Science  and  Revelation  :  a  Lecture  delivered  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Christian  Evidence  Society."  By  R.  Payne 
Smith,  D.D.,  Dean  of  Canterbury.  London  :  Hodder  & 
Stoughton. 

"  A  Practical   Help    to    Teaching  English    Composition." 
By  B.  E.  S.  Drake  Bigsby,  F.A.S.L.    London  :  Thomas  Mnrby. 
"  Murby's  Scripture  Manuals :  Joshua  and  Judges."   Lon- 
don :  Thomas  Murby. 

"An  easy  Elementary  Course  of  Latin."  Book  3.  Conju- 
gation of  Verbs.  By  William  Dodds.  London  :  Thomas 
Murby. 

"  Catalogus  Coleopterorum  Europe  et  confinium ;  auct. 
S.  A.  de.  Marseul."     London:  Janson. 

"Notes  on  Chalcidiae."  Part  2.  By  Francis  Walker, 
F.L.S.     London  :  Janson. 

"American  Naturalist,"  for  May,  1871. 
"  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,"  for  May,  1871. 
"  Report  of  the  Rugby   School  Natural   History  Society" 
for  1870. 

Communications  Received.  — F.  C.  S.  R. — G.  H.  A. — 
W.  A.  G.-R.  T.  A.- J.  C.  H.-A.  W.-W.  C.  H.-E.  W.— 
J.  E.  M— W.  H.  B.— A.  N— W.  H.  B.— H.  T.— J.  S.  W.  D.— 
A.  J.  R.— F.  B— W.  W.  K.— B.  D.  J.-E.  H.— J.  H.  L— G.  S. 
-W.  G.-H.  B— R.T.— W.H.-E.  M.  P.— F.  J.  W.-J.  K.  W. 
_w  c  P— H.  T.— F.  B.  W.— F.  H.— R.  H.— J.  B.  L.— 
W.  H.W.— E.S.-M.J.— T.  B.— W.  H.W.-G.  H.H.— A.  H.C. 
— R.  L.-J.  S.-S.  M.-H.  E.-T.  B.-E.W.-J.  A.-S.W.— 
J.  S.— S.  L.  B.-  J.  H.-S.  S.  (Yes.)— F.  A.  L.— J.  R.  S.  C.— 
C.  L.  J.-J.  W.  B.— R.  V.  T.-  J.  A.  B.-J.  B.— S.  A.  S.-\\  .  G. 
— T  H.-E.  H.-R.  L.— W.  T.-G.  M.-H.  W.-J.  B.-E.  W. 
F  R  S.— W.W.-G.  H.W.-M.  A.  D— W.  M.— C.  E.-O.  M. 
-C.J.  W.  R.— H.  W.— W.  C— R.  H.  A.— A.  S.— L.  T.- 
J.  L  P— W.  P.  M.-D.  M.-H.  W.  H.— M.  D.  P. -A.  H.— 
S  S  — H.  W.—T.  G.  A— R.  T.,  M.A.- J.  S.-W.  F.— J.  H.  M. 
-H.  M.  J.  U.-F.  G.— S.  G.-R.  H.  W. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


\i: 


THE  STORY  OF  A  PIECE  OF  LIGNITE. 


By  J.  E.  TAYLOR,  E.G.S.,  Etc. 


ERSONALLY, 
I  do  not  think 
I  am  such  a 
familiar  object, 
in  England  at 
least,  as  some 
of  my  fellow 
In  some  parts 
of  Germany  and  Switzerland, 
and  even  in  Devonshire,  I  am 
w  much  better  known  under  the 
♦  .•'  nL^ficsTx*  name  of  "  brown  coal."  The 
name  I  have  assumed  at  the 
head  of  this  story  indicates, 
although  under  a  Latin  form, 
my  vegetable  origin.  Of  my 
affinity  to  the  common  house- 
hold coal  I  will  speak  pre- 
sently. My  appearance  bears 
out  my  Latin  name,  for  few 
would  mistake  my  mineral- 
ized woody  structure  for  any- 
thing else  than  it  is.  Notwithstanding  my  dull 
brownish  look,  and  the  general  absence  of  that 
pitchy  glossiness  which  characterizes  true  coal,  I 
have  been  formed  under  very  similar  conditions  to 
the  latter."  My  history  is  not  less  romantic — nay, 
in  my  belief,  is  even  additionally  so,  on  account  of 
my'having  come  into  existence  at  a  comparatively 
recent  period,  geologically  speaking.  The  epoch  of 
my  birth  is  distinguished  by  the  appearance  of 
many  genera  of  animals  and  plants  which  are  still 
in  existence.  These,  it  will  be  seen  presently,  by 
their  occurrence' in  other  parts  of  the  world  besides 
Europe,  indicate  the  immense  amount  of  physical 
changes  which  have  caused  them  to  take  up  geo- 
graphical stations  so  far  away  from  those  in  which 
they  were  evidently  first  created. 

The  epoch  of  my  birth  was  briefly  referred  to  by 

the  last  speaker.  It  was  the  Miocene  period,  during 

which  Europe  was  dotted  by  great  lakes  of  fresh 

water,  and  covered  with  a  flora  more  magnificent 

No.  79. 


than  any  she  had  been  clad  with  before  since  the 
world  began.  The  scanty  species  of  the  Carboni- 
ferous period  pale  before  the  gorgeous  varieties  of  the 
Miocene.  The  flora  extended  to  the  very  North  Pole 
itself !  1  am  speaking  of  a  period  when  no  ice-cap 
existed  in  Arctic  regions  ;  but  when  Iceland,  Spitz- 
bergen,  and  Greenland  were  clad  with  evergreen 
shrubs;  of  a  time  when  the  Old  World  and  the  New 
were  connected  by  an  extension  of  land,  of  which 
the  Japanese  islands,  the  Aleutian  islands,  and  Van- 
couver's Island  are  now  the  only  existing  outliers. 
Central  Europe  alone  maintained  no  fewer  than 
three  thousand  species  of  plants !  Of  these,  eight 
hundred  species  of  true  flower-bearing  plants, 
besides  ferns,  &c,  are  found  fossilized  in  the  strata 
called  the  "  Molasse." 

The  temperature  of  this  period  was  considerably 
higher  than  it  is  now,  although  not  near  so  elevated 
as  in  the  previous  Eocene  epoch.  The  nature  of  the 
plants  found  fossilized  indicates  an  elevation  of 
about  sixteen  degrees  above  what  it  is  now.  Hence 
with  physical  circumstances  suitable,  one  cannot 
wonder  that  a  luxuriant  vegetation  covered  every 
available  spot  of  the  dry  land.  As  to  the  causes  of 
this  increased  temperature,  and,  still  more,  of  the 
extension  of  the  Miocene  forests  to  the  very  North 
Pole  itself,  I  can  only  speculate.  It  is  generally 
thought,  however,  that  they  were  due  to  astrono- 
mical conditions  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  partly 
similar  to  those  now  affecting  the  southern,  and 
also  to  such  an  arrangement  of  physical  geography 
as  ensured  the  highest  degree  of  heat  and  genial 
moisture.  But  even  these  conditions  will  not  ac- 
count for  plants  to  which  light  is  such  a  necessary- 
stimulant,  growing  within  the  Arctic  circle,  where 
there  is  a  continued  darkness  for  months  together. 
I  must  give  it  up,  seeing  that  eminent  scientific 
men  are  in  a  quandary  about  it.  All  that  I  can  say 
is  that  no  geographical  agencies  alone  will  account 
for  the  physical  circumstances  of  the  Miocene 
epoch. 

The  Miocene  strata,  as  I  think  I  have  before 

H 


140 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


remarked,  are  most  interesting1  to  biologists,  inas- 
much as  it  is  here  that  they  meet  with  the  most 
abundant  evidences  of  the  direct  ancestry  of  living- 
animals  and  plauts,  which,  since  then,  have  been 
distributed  by  subsequent  physical  changes  over  the 
surface  of  the  existing  dry  land. 

The  fossil  plants  found  in  the  lignite  beds  where 
I  lay,  before  I  was  disinterred  by  the  curious 
geologist  to  tell  him  my  personal  experience,  them- 
selves assist  me  in  unfolding  a  wondrous  tale. 
Lignite  beds,  of  Miocene  age,  are  to  be  found  in 
Germany,  Switzerland,  Italy,  Austria,  Scotland, 
Ireland,  Devonshire,  Iceland,  Spitzbergen,  Green- 
land, Vancouver's  Island,  the  Alaska  islands,  and 
elsewhere.  All  the  plants  forming  this  lignite  afford 
most  indisputable  proof  of  their  having  grown  on 
or  near  the  spots  where  they  are  now  met  with. 
The  petals,  stamens,  and  pistils  of  the  flowering 
plants  are  preserved  in  the  fossil  state,  together 
with  even  the  pollen !  Then  you  have  the  seeds, 
in  various  degrees  of  ripeness,  whilst  the  leaves  of 
many  of  the  fossil  plants  have  also  fossil  fioigi  on 
their  backs,  just  as  living  plants  are  troubled  with 
"smut,"  "  bunt,"  or  "rust"  now. 

The  ferns  are  to  be  met  with  in  the  circinate,  or 
crosier-like  condition,  as  well  as  with  the  ripe 
spore- cases,  ready  to  burst,  on  the  backs  of  their 
fronds.  Nothing  could  be  more  conclusive  as  to 
these  various  plants,  flowering  and  cryptogamous, 
having  grown  near  where  they  are  now  found  in  a 
fossil  condition.  The  facts  I  have  mentioned  will 
show  you  they  could  not  have  been  drifted  to  their 
present  high  latitudes  by  any  flood  or  deluge,  for 
that  would  most  assuredly  have  disturbed  such 
minute  evidences  of  local  growth  as  every  bed  of 
lignite  affords. 

Taking  this  fossil  flora  in  its  general  character, 
you  will  find  that  it  is  not  so  much  what  you  would 
call  European  as  it  is  cosmopolitan.  Of  the  eight 
hundred  species  of  flowering  plants  which  geologists 
have  already  discovered  in  the  lignites  of  Switzer- 
land, no  fewer  than  three  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
species  are  evergreens.  The  majority  of  the  species 
found  fossil  here  and  in  Germany  have,  since  then, 
migrated  to  the  southern  states  of  North  America. 
The  next  percentage  continued  European.  Then, 
in  succession,  you  find  other  species  which  have 
since  been  transferred  to  Asia,  Africa,  and  even  to 
Australia.  The  preponderance  of  the  American 
types,  both  of  plants  and  insects,  is  the  peculiar 
character  of  the  Miocene  fossils  in  all  the  deposits 
of  the  old  world.  That  I  was  perfectly  correct  in  my 
statement  about  the  general  increased  temperature 
of  this  period  will  be  evident  when  I  submit  to  you 
a  few  analytical  facts  connected  with  this  fossil 
flora.  You  will  have  to  seek  for  the  European 
types  by  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and 
for  the  Asiatic  in  the  Caucasus  and  Asia  Minor 
generally.    The  camphor-trees — now  such  a  charac- 


teristic element  in  Japanese  scenery— are  very 
abundant  in  the  fossil  condition  in  Miocene  strata  so 
far  north  as  Iceland,  Spitzbergen,  and  Greenland. 
How  imposing  was  the  vegetable  kingdom  in  Central 
Europe  at  this  time  you  may  guess  by  my  enume- 
rating a  few  of  the  commouer  genera. 

The  Smilax  grew  everywhere,  only  equalled  in 
abundance  by  the  Bryandroides.  Nine  species  of 
Fig-trees  are  known,  whose  nearest  analogues  now 
flourish  in  India,  Africa,  and  America.  The 
Proteacea  family  was  very  abundant.  Fan-palms 
were  a  peculiar  feature  in  the  Miocene  landscape, 
together  with  occasional  Flabellarias.  Other 
species  of  Palm  were  not  lackiug  to  adorn  the 
scenery  with  their  graceful  foliage.  Then  we  had 
abundance  of  Tulip-trees,  Magnolias,  Banlcsias, 
Sequoias,  Vines,  &e.  You  may  guess,  therefore,  at 
the  lovely  aspect  of  the  Swiss,  Italian,  German,  and 
English  lakes,  set  in  a  frame  of  such  lovely  vege- 
table forms,  and  whose  banks  were  haunted  by  ani- 
mals (which  I  shall  presently  describe)  whose  forms 
and  affinities  were  quite  as  foreign  to  anything 
existing  in  Europe  as  can  possibly  be  imagined. 

I  was  exhumed  from  my  silent  position  in  the 
pretty  valley  of  Bovey  Tracey,  in  Devonshire,  where 
lignite  occurs  in  several  seams.  There  is  not  that 
abundance  of  vegetable  forms  stored  up  here  as  is 
to  be  met  with  elsewhere,  especially  in  Switzerland. 
As  far  as  I  can  remember,  only  about  fifty  species 
of  plants  are  known  from  this  English  deposit.  The 
intervening  beds  tell  a  tale  as  to  the  denudation  of 
Dartmoor,  and  how  the  overlying  beds  came  to  be 
chipped  off  the  hard  granitic  boss.  Twenty  of  the 
plants  found  fossilized  in  this  my  bu-thplace  are 
common  to  those  met  with  under  similar  circum- 
stances in  Switzerland.  They  are  principally 
Evergreen  Oaks,  Fig-trees,  Fines,  Laurels,  Garde- 
nias, &c. 

Miocene  beds  are  met  with  also  in  the  Isle  of 
Mull,  and  at  Antrim,  in  Ireland,  where  the  basaltic 
columns  of  your  Giant's  Causeway  are  of  this  geolo- 
gical age.  The  floral  yield  of  these  beds,  however, 
has  been  very  small  compared  with  the  same  strata 
elsewhere.  A  peculiar  species  of  Fern  grew  in  what 
is  now  the  Isle  of  Mull ;  but  which  was,  at  the'time 
I  am  speaking  of,  part  of  an  extended  connection 
with  Ireland.  The  greatest  interest  connected  with 
these  beds  is  that  they  contain  evidence  of  the  last 
active  volcanoes  in  the  British  islands. 

The  Greenland  lignite  beds  have  yielded  many 
hundred  species  of  fossil  plants  ;  but  their  character 
is  hardly  so  well  known  as  those  of  other  deposits, 
although  it  tells  the  same  tale  of  a  mixed  flora.  The 
Iceland  strata  contain  no  fewer  than  four  hundred 
and  twenty-six  species  of  true  flower-bearing  plants, 
exclusive  of  those  belonging  to  the  cryptogamous 
class.  Among  them  you  may  find  such  familiar 
types  as  the  Willow,  Juniper,  Rose,  Oak,  Plane-tree, 
Maple,  Vine,  Walnut,  &c,  all  of  them  now  living 


HAIIDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


147 


further  south,  either  in  the  Old  World  or  the  New. 
The  reason  why  the  southern  states  of  North 
America  are  now  occupied  by  a  flora  which  I  have 
shown  you  was  decidedly  European  during  the 
Miocene  period,  is  that  it  subsequently  migrated 
thither  by  way  of  that  continuous  land,  whose 
outliers  are  to  be  fouud  in  the  Aleutian  islands. 
They  were  driven  to  their  present  southerly  habitats 
by  the  gradual  growth  of  the  great  Arctic  ice-cap 
during  the  Pliocene  epoch,  and  which,  in  extending 
so  far  beyond  its  present  limits  during  the  Glacial 
period,  caused  temperate  plants  to  take  up  positions 
even  under  the  equator;  but  at  sufficient  heights 
to  find  a  temperature '  analogous  to  that  of  their 
northern  home.  The  further  you  go  east  in  the 
old  world,  the  more  numerous  relatively  are  the 
living  species  which  occur  in  the  fossil  in  the  Swiss 
lignites.  The  Salisburia  is  now  limited  to  the 
Japanese  region,  although  it  is  found  fossil  in  the 
Pliocene  deposits  of  North  America.  There  are 
more  than  three  hundred  existing  species  of  plants 
common  to  the  Southern  United  States  and  Japan, 
than  to  Europe.  So  that,  in  this  respect,  Japan  is 
more  nearly  related  to  the  new  world  than  to  the 
old. 

I  have  gone  into  this  detail  because,  although  the 
vegetable  forms  which  enter  into  my  composition 
are  so  like  those  now  in  existence,  as  to  suggest 
a  recent  geological  period,  yet  their  cosmopolitan 
distribution  from  European  centres,  the  subsequent 
depression  of  dry  land  to  become  sea-beds,  and  the 
uplifting  of  sea-bottoms  into  dry  land,  and  even  to 
high  mountains,  all  proclaim  the  great  lapse  of 
time  which  must  have  ebbed  away  since  then  ! 
Many  of  the  great  fresh-water  lakes  I  spoke  of 
just  now,  set  in  their  frame-work  of  a  southern 
vegetation,  had  rivers  and  streams  which  supplied 
them  with  water.  The  deltas  of  such  streams  are 
still  visible  in  many  parts  of  Central  France.  The 
boughs  of  the  overhanging  trees,  and  the  host  of 
leaves  which  were  shed  in  the  autumn  time,  thickly 
strewed  the  surface :  gradually  settling  to  the 
bottom,  they  there  formed  those  beds  of  woody 
lignite  of  which  I  form  an  insignificant  part.  In 
some  of  the  Swiss  lakes  there  were  precipitations 
of  limy  matter  going  on,  and  these  enveloped  the 
leaves,  &c,  with  thin  films  of  carbonate  of  lime, 
so  as  to  preserve  every  vein,  mid-rib,  and  orna- 
mental marking.  The  fish,  such  as  the  Roach,  &c, 
as  well  as  fresh-water  mussels,  which  lived  in  the 
lakes,  have  their  remains  occasionally  found  in 
numbers.  In  Central  Erance  there  are  beds  of 
some  feet  in  thickness  actually  made  up  of  the 
accumulated  tubes  of  caddis-worms  !  More  than  a 
thousand  different  species  of  insects  have  been  ob- 
tained from  the  lignite  beds  of  Switzerland,  so  that 
you  may  guess  at  the  lively  sounds  which  animated 
these  old  Miocene  woods.  Gorgeous  butterflies, 
allied  to  existing  Indian  forms,  slowly  flapped  their 


way  through  the  bosky  thickets.  Hosts  of  white 
ants,  or  Termites,  of  at  least  ten  species,  built  their 
earthy  mounds ;  myriads  of  insects,  of  various 
orders,  dropped  into  these  extinct  Swiss  lakes  by 
millions,  poisoned  by  the  mephitic  gases  which  were 
sometimes  evolved  in  great  volume.  Among  the 
fossil  insects  you  may  recognize  forms  which  man- 
kind now  consider  pests,  although  they  have  an 
antiquity  so  much  greater  than  themselves.  These 
include  the  Dung-beetles,  Lady-birds,  Earwigs, 
Glow-worms,  Dragon  flies,  Honey-bees,  &c. 

I  must  say  a  few  words  respecting  the  creatures 
which  lived  in  these  magnificent  primeval  forests. 
Troops  of  monkeys  were  not  wanting,  of  which  the 
remains  of  at  least  three  different  genera  are  known. 
The  Dnjopithecus,  or  "  Tree-ape,"  lived  in  Erance. 
It  was  arboreal  in  its  habits,  and  in  stature  was 
equal  to  a  man.  In  Greece  there  lived  a  genus 
called  Semnopithecus,  and  in  the  forests  where  the 
Pyrenees  now  rise  was  another,  named  Pliopithecus. 
Huge  tigers  {Macluiirodus)  haunted  the  thickets, 
scaring  the  light  antelopes  and  deer.  Along  with 
the  tree-monkeys  were  species  of  Opossum,  not 
much  unlike  those  now  living  on  the  same  trees  in 
the  United  States.  Huge  Deinotheria  frequented 
the  marshy  swamps — creatures  with  downward-bent 
tusks,  and,  in  natural  history  position,  intermediate 
between  the  Tapir  and  Elephant  families.  The 
Mastodon  was  the  characteristic  and  commonest 
type  of  the  elephants,  noticeable  chiefly  for  its 
straighter  tusks,  and  more  particularly  for  the 
maminillated  shape  of  its  huge  teeth,  which,  how- 
ever, were  only  employed  on  vegetable  diet.  The 
rivers  swarmed  with  many  species  of  river  or  wart 
hogs,  associated  with  Hippopotami,  Tapirs,  &c. 
Herds  of  wild  oxen  roamed  over  the  plains,  their 
weaklier  members  falling  a  prey  to  the  huge  tigers, 
bears,  and  hycenas,  which  had  appeared  on  the  stage 
of  creation  by  this  time.  The  Deer  family  had  also 
come  into  existence,  and  abounded  in  great  num- 
bers. What  was  said  of  the  mammalia  of  the 
Eocene  period, — viz.,  that  some  of  the  species  com- 
bined characters  which  are  now  distributed  among 
three  or  four,  is  more  or  less  true  of  many  of  the 
Miocene  animals.  I  have  mentioned  the  Deinotheria- 
as  instances.  The  Hipparion,  or  three-toed  horse — 
very  numerous  at  this  time, — was  another,  inasmuch 
as  it  possessed  affinities  with  the  ruminantia.  In 
the  Miocene  deposits  of  the  Sewalik  Hills,  in 
India,  the  "  missing  links  "  are  even  more  numerous : 
chief  among  the  forms  there  to  be  met  with  is  the 
Sivatherium,  a  huge  four-horned  deer,  which  con- 
nected the  ruminant  family  with  the  pachyderms. 
It  had  a  long  snout,  or  proboscis,  like  the  elephant, 
which  creature  it  nearly  equalled  in  size  and  bulk. 
But  the  most  remarkable  animal  which  then  lived 
in  India  was  a  huge  Tortoise,  now  extinct,  whose 
entire  length  was  over  eighteen  feet,  breadth  eight 
feet,  and  height  over  seven  feet !    I  doubt  whether 

H   2 


]4S 


HARDWICKE'S    SCI  E  N  CE-GO  S  S  IP. 


the  whole  records  of  geology  can  bring  forth  a 
reptile  more  peculiar,  or  built  on  a  huger  scale, 
than  this.  Associated  with  it  are  the  remains  of 
several  species  of  crocodiles,  which  then,  as  now, 
lived  in  Indian  rivers.  The  Giraffe,  Camel,  &c, 
were  then  Indian  mammals,  although  they  are  now 
limited  to  Africa.  In  North  America  you  may  find 
other  strata  of  Miocene  age,  as  in  Virginia,  Ne- 
braska, l%c.  Most  remarkable  are  the  fossil  remains 
of  animals  which  afterwards  became  extinct ;  as, 
for  instance,  the  Horse,  Ox,  &c.  These  active 
creatures  swarmed  over  American  plains  at  the  time 
I  am  speaking  of,  just  as  the  Bisons  and  "Wild  Horse 
now  do  further  south.  But  the  latter  have  thus 
run  wild  since  their  introduction  by  the  Spaniards, 
whereas  during  the  Miocene  period  they  were 
natives  of  the  New  World,  and  lived  on  the  same 
areas  as  Mastodons  and  Elephants. 

You  will  have  seen  that  the  peculiarity  I  men- 
tioned earlier  in  my  story  as  to  the  chief  feature 
of  the  Miocene  flora  being  its  extended  geographical 
distribution  since  it  grew  so  luxuriantly  in  Europe, 
applies  almost  equally  to  the  animals.  It  seems  so 
strange  to  imagine  native  horses  and  elephants  in 
America,  and  native  monkeys  and  tapirs  in  England ! 
But  I  am  speaking  of  facts  about  which  there  can 
be  no  possibility  of  mistake.  I  have  only  briefly 
glanced  at  the  chief  vital  features  of  this  interest- 
ing epoch,  but  my  hearers  will  admit  the  world 
was  then  anything  but  a  desert,  although  its  most 
highly-endowed  tenant — that  which  then  occupied 
the  place  now  maintained  by  man — was  only  a  long- 
armed  monkey! 

The  familiarity  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  types 
of  the  Miocene  epoch,  and  their  great  resemblance 
to,  if  not  identity  with,  species  now  living,  will 
cause  you  to  think  that  it  was  not  so  far  removed 
in  time  as  it  really  was.  It  is  only  when  your 
attention  is  drawn  to  the  physical  changes  which 
have  gone  on  since  then  that  you  grasp  the 
idea  of  unlimited  time  more  fully.  Great  moun- 
tains have  been  upheaved  from  the  sea-bottom, 
and  continents  depressed  to  form  sea-beds,  since 
the  events  occurred  which  I  have  been  describing. 
It  was  a  period  when  volcanoes  were  active  in 
Great  Britain,  and  when,  in  Central  Prance,  they 
threw  up  great  cones  of  ashes,  lava,  and  scoria, 
equal  in  height  to  Vesuvius  or  Etna !  The  Alps, 
Pyrenees,  Himalayas,  Andes,  and  other  great  moun- 
tain-chains, were  then  either  not  elevated  at  all,  or 
much  below  their  present  loftiness.  The  area  of 
the  Swiss  fresh-water  lakes  and  of  the  dense  Mio- 
cene forests  became  gradually  depressed,  until  it 
was  a  sea-bed,  tenanted  by  hosts  of  marine  mol- 
lusca,  fish,  cetaceans,  &c.  This  great  change  took 
place  even  within  Miocene  times,  for  the  marine 
deposits  just  mentioned  belong  to  the  uppermost 
division  of  the  formation.  I  cannot  speak  of  the 
great  changes  which  subsequently  swept  over  the 


northern  hemisphere,  of  the  formation  of  the  great 
Arctic  ice-cap,  which  spread  over  temperate  lati- 
tudes, and  drove  animals  and  plants  as  from  another 
violated  Eden,  this  way  and  that,  until  they  ulti- 
mately occupied  their  present  habitats !  All  this 
is  matter  of  fact,  as  well  as  matter  of  geological 
history;  but  a  poor  piece  "of  Lignite  cannot  be  sup- 
posed to  remember  everything  that  took  place  since 
it  was  born ! 


"MABCO  POLO"  OPOSSUM. 

/"iUR  range  of  pets  here  in  England  is  generally 
^-^  very  limited.  Our  cats  and  dogs,  squirrels, 
dormice,  guinea-pigs  and  rabbits,  meet  us  over  and 
over  again  at  almost  every  country  home.  But  once 
I  had  a  real  stranger,  common  enough  in  his  own 
country,  but  not  often  domesticated  in  this — "  Marco 
Polo,"  an  Australian  opossum.  Not  really  an  opos- 
sum, that  term  is  properly  confined  to  the  American 
opossums.  My  opossum  was  a  "vulpine  phalangist,' * 
but  "  opossum  "  is  certainly  the  name  by  which  he 
and  his  very  numerous  relations  are  known  in 
Australia. 

A  few  years  ago  a  friend  returning  from  a  short 
stay  in  Australia  brought  home  with  him  a  fine 
opossum  and  a  piping-crow  :  the  former  was  pre- 
sented to  me,  and  became  my  especial  darling 
and  my  care.  I  named  him  Marco  Polo,  being, 
as  he  was,  a  traveller ;  but  his  early  history  was 
not  particularly  clear.  My  friend  had  been  stay- 
ing at  Warnumbool  and  had  there  procured 
three  nice  little  opossums,  ready  to  take  back  to 
Melbourne,  and  so  home.  These  little  creatures 
he  placed  in  an  empty  garret ;  their  propensity 
for  eating  up  all  things  within  reach  had  been 
well  considered,  and  everything  but  suitable  food 
carefully  removed.  The  games  of  these  little 
fellows  were  very  entertaining  to  watch ;  and  one 
evening  after  witnessing  the  performance  as  usual, 
my  friend  most  unluckily  left  behind  him  a  box  of  sul- 
phur matches.  The  next  morning  all  three  animals 
were  found  to  be  seriously  ill,  and  the  matches 
had  disappeared.  One  opossum  alone  recovered, 
was  taken  to  Melbourne,  and  let  loose  in  a  com- 
fortable wire  habitation  at  one  of  the  hospitals  where 
my  friend  was  staying  with  the  principal  surgeon. 
The  day  came  for  the  commencement  of  the  voyage. 
The  crow  was  packed  in  a  hutch,  and  another  hutch, 
a  very  small  one,  was  destined  for  the  opossum.  It 
was  placed  in  the  large  enclosure  and  my  friend  and 
the  doctor  stood  waiting  to  see  him  enter  it,  being 
both  a  little  nervous  of  touching  the  animal.  Vain 
hope.  Master  'possum  was  not  quite  so  green  as  all 
that.  The  cab  had  come,  the  luggage  and  the  crow 
had  been  hoisted  up,  not  a  moment  longer  must  be 
delayed ;  with  real  regret  must  I  relate  it,  but  my 
friend,  who  had  doubted  the  kindly  nature  of  the  in- 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  LEN  CE-GOS  SI  P. 


149 


nocent  opossum,  seized  a  big  stick,  and  caught  the 
poor  fellow  a  hard  crack  on  his  beautiful  head, 
rendered  hiin  nearly  senseless,  and  popped  him  into 
his  hutch.  He  arrived  on  board  without  further 
adventure,  and  was  given  over  to  the  cook  to  take 
charge  of.  The  crow,  who  had  left  off  piping  and 
taken  to  imitate  the  fowls  during  his  stay  at  the 
hospital,  was  carried  from  his  cab  to  the  ship  by  an 
imprudent  porter,  who  put  his  hand  through  the 
bars  of  the  hutch  to  lift  it.  He  dropped  it  with  a 
sudden  crash  !  The  crow  had  driven  his  sharp  hard 
beak  well  into  the  flesh  of  his  fingers.  There  were 
two  other  opossums  on  board  ship,  and  all  the  pets 
were  under  the  charge  of  the  ship's  cook.  One 
opossum  got  away  and  was  missing  for  two  or  three 
days:  at  last  he  was  found  under  the  galley  fire 
amongst  the  ashes ;  the  poor  thing  had  felt  the  cold 
severely.  A  death  occurred  in  the  trio ;  my  friend 
had  suspicions  that  the  deceased  was  his  opossum 
who  had  suffered  the  crack  on  his  poor  head  ;  but 
the  cook  affirmed  that  it  was  not  so.  Anyhow  at 
the  end  of  the  voyage  a  very  large  and  very  tame 
opossum  was  shown  as  my  friend's,  and  taken  away 
by  him.  A  faint  idea  existed  that  the  real  owner 
of  that  opossum  would  not  have  been  so  likely  to 
fee  the  cook  as  the  cook  considered  my  friend  likely 
to  do  ;  but  certainly  the  creature  that  was  brought 
to  me  was  full-grown,  gentle,  domesticated  to  a 
degree. 

In  some  houses  in  Australia  they  live  and  run 
about  like  tame  cats,  and  had  I  not  been  so  afraid 
of  losing  him,  or  of  dogs  touching  him,  I  believe  I 
could  have  allowed  Marco  to  do  the  same.  He  and 
the  crow  were  left  at  our  little  country  station  for 
a  short  time  till  they  could  be  fetched  ;  their  fame 
very  quickly  spread,  and  visitors  came  down  to  the 
station  to  see  the  two  foreign  creatures.  The  hutch 
was  carried  into  our  yard,  and  I  eagerly  proceeded 
to  examine  my  possession.  I  saw  a  cramped,  dirty 
little  hutch,  and  behind  the  bars  a  soft,  grey 
creature,  about  as  big  as  a  large  cat,  only  broader. 
It  had  a  pointed  face,  with  cat-like  furry  ears,  and 
two  dark  stripes  upon  its  head ;  its  colour  was  a 
rich  light  grey,  with  a  reddish  tinge  about  the  head, 
and  dark  brown  tail.  It  had  a  dark  stripe  on  its 
yellowish  breast,  and  what  pleased  me  most  were 
its  eyes.  Soft,  wistful  eyes,  of  a  dull  reddish-brown; 
eyes  that  pleaded  for  kindness  and  sympathy, 
dreamy  pathetic  eyes,  gentle,  far-seeing  eyes.  This 
was  the  impression  they  gave  me  when,  as  it  often 
did,  the  creature  put  its  two  little  black  hands  on 
my  arm  and  gazed  up  into  my  face ;  but  in  reality  1 
think, the  expression  was  partly  caused  by  the  fact 
of  Marco  scarcely  seeing  at  all  by  daylight ;  but  as 
darkness  came  on  his  nocturnal  habits  came 
strongly  upon  him,  and  he  would  tear  and  race 
about  his  cage,  and  his  eyes  would  shiue  like  little 
lamps. 

At    our  first  interview  I  was  informed  by  my 


friend  that  the  opossum  was  savage  and  dangerous, 
but  I  could  not  believe  it  of  a  creature  of  such 
gentle  aspect ;  and  as  it  happened,  his  appearance 
did  not  belie  him.  I  put  on  a  pair  of  thick  gloves, 
opened  the  hutch-door,  and  lifted  Marco  out,  he 
offering  no  resistance  beyond  clinging  to  the  sides 
of  his  nasty  old  house  with  his  long,  sharp  claws. 
His  little  hands  were  beautiful,  and  he  had  full  fur 
"  bishop "  sleeves  down  to  the  wrist,  which  were 
exceedingly  neat  and  pretty ;  his  tail  had  only  fur 
on  the  upper  side,  beneath  it  was  black,  hard  skiu ; 
it  had  a  sort  of  finger-like  point,  to  assist  his  pre- 
hensile habits.  I  put  him  in  a  good-sized  house,  and 
gave  him  a  collar  and  chain,  so  as  to  let  him  have 
tolerable  liberty.  Now  and  then  he  had  a  scramble 
about  a  room  in  the  dusk,  and  wonderful  it  was  to- 
see  him  climb  and  twist  about  the  furniture.  He 
was  an  object  of  interest  and  curiosity  to  our 
visitors ;  but  I  grew  very  tired  of  always  hearing 
over  and  over  again  the  visitor  pronounce  with  a 
satisfied  and  witty  air,  "  Oh  !  '  'possum  up  a  gum- 
tree,'  I  suppose."  No  matter  who  came,  or  to  whom 
I  mentioned  my  opossum,  I  was  nearly  sure  to  hear 
the  same  little  joke  given  out,  as  if  a  happy  and 
original  notion. 

His  diet  was  a  matter  of  some  anxiety  to  me  at 
first ;  ship  biscuit  was  the  only  provision  1  could 
find  in  his  old  house. 

I  visited  the  Zoological  Gardens  with  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  Mr.  Bartlett,the  superintendent, who 
kindly  took  me  to  the  opossum  cages,  aud  I  had  an 
interview  with  their  keeper.  There  were  pleuty  of 
the  pretty  creatures  there,  and  they  increase  only 
too  rapidly.  I  finally  kept  Marco  Polo  on  bread, 
which  he  liked  exceedingly,  carrots,  boiled  potatoes, 
and  any  vegetables  and  fruit  he  seemed  to  like. 
The  opossum  is  said  to  eat  animal  food,  such  as 
small  birds,  but  1  kept  only  to  vegetable  diet,  bread 
being  the  standing  dish.  I  went  to  see  the  opossum 
at  the  Crystal  Palace,  he  seemed  to  lead  a  dull  life, 
asleep  at  the  back  of  his  hutch  ;  he  was  fed  entirely 
on  boiled  potatoes. 

My  first  business  every  morning  was  to  look  after 
Marco  Polo,  and  pet  him  and  talk  to  him.  We  were 
living  in  a  very  pretty,  little  country-house,  grown 
over  with  creepers,  standing  on  a  terrace  with  a 
lawn  sloping  down  to  a  wood.  Under  a  tree  on  the 
terrace  was  the  piping-crow's  wicker  cage,  and 
near  him  was  the  opossum.  They  both  came  into 
the  conservatory  at  night,  and  had  broken  several 
pots  of  flowers  between  them.  The  crow's  name 
was  "  Friday,"  he  belonged  to  one  of  my  younger 
sisters.  We  had  a  very  engaging  aud  beautiful  little 
kitten  called  "  Joy."  Joy's  pleasure  was  to  climb 
up  the  trunk  of  the  tree  against  which  Friday  hung, 
and  dodge  him  round  and  round  it.  Friday  would 
take  aim  with  his  sharp  beak,  and  snap  and  peck  at 
her  or  any  bit  of  her  tail  or  paw  that  came  within 
his  reach.    The  tree  was  a  may-tree,  and  came  out 


150 


IIARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


a  mass  of  lovely  blossom.  We  used  to  sit,  out  on  that 
pleasant  little  sunny  terrace  and  watch  the  crea- 
tures. I  had  two  very  tame  dormice,  whose  little 
house  stood  on  the  top  of  Marco's,  but  they  were 
as  much  out  of  their  house  as  in  it.  Marco  grew 
daily  more  gentle  and  affectionate.  He  slept  most 
of  the  day  curled  up  in  a  fine  furry  ball.  If  I  waked 
him,  he  would  look  up  with  a  reproachful  gaze  and 
roll  up  again  still  tighter.  1  enjoyed  his  gentle 
society  all  that  summer,  and  in  the  autumn  we  re- 
turned to  town.  Marco  came  too,  his  home  was  on 
the  leads  outside  the  dining-room  windows. 

Eor  some  time  we  did  very  well ;  with  his  chain 
he  could  have  a  scramble  about  the  leads  and  steps 
(to  the  interest  occasionally  of  the  next-door  neigh- 
bours). I  covered  him  up  with  carpet  as  the  cold 
weather  approached.  Winter  came  on.  I  began  to 
fear  whether  Marco  Polo's  constitution  would 
stand  the  cold  and  damp.  I  tried  to  find  a  home  for 
him  with  friends  who  might  keep  him  in  a  stable 
or  warm  covered  place.  However  I  failed,  and 
after  much  deliberation  I  wrote  with  regret  to  Mr. 
Bartlett,  and  asked  if  he  could  receive  my  poor 
dear  opossum  into  the  Zoological  Gardens.  He 
most  obligingly  let  me  know  at  once  that  he  would 
do  so,  and  said  that  in  .the  course  of  a  few  days  he 
would  send  for  Marco.  I  felt  the  idea  of  parting 
with  a  creature  so  pretty  and  so  endearing  very 
keenly.  I  was  afraid  to  go  out  lest  he  should  be 
fetched  away  in  my  absence,  and  spent  a  day  or 
two  in  feeling  very  "low"  upon  the  subject.  We 
had  poor  Marco  Polo  in  to  breakfast,  and  he  ran  up 
the  dining-room  curtains  and  at  last  got  into  the 
coal-scuttle,  from  whence  I  had  to  lift  him.  I  had 
heard  accounts  of  a  fine  equipage  belonging  to  the 
Gardens  and  drawn  by  zebras ;  1  had  vague  hopes 
that  these  gaily-striped  creatures  would  come  trot- 
ting down  our  quiet  street,  and  stop  at  our  door. 
I  was  disappointed. 

One  morning  a  kind-looking  quiet  man  asked  to 
see  me.  He  was  the  keeper  of  the  carnivora,  at 
present  disabled  by  a  wound  on  his  arm  given  him 
by  the  bear.  He  produced  a  little  sack,  in  which 
were  many  brass  eyelet-holes  to  admit  the  air.  I 
bade  farewell  to  Maixo  Polo.  He  was  coaxed  and 
persuaded  into  his  sack,  the  end  was  tied  up,  and, 
slung  over  the  keeper's  shoulder,  he  made  his  un- 
dignified progress  to  the  Regent's  Park.  Soon  after- 
wards I  paid  him  a  visit.  There  had  been  no  room 
for  him  in  the  opossum-house,  and  I  found  him 
chained  up  in  a  corner  behind  the  cases  in  the 
snake-house.  I  took  him  in  my  arms  and  gave  him 
some  sugar  I  had  brought ;  he  appeared  very  well 
and  happy  and  was  very  fat.  He  was  the  means  of 
our  seeing  and  experiencing  many  amusing  things 
in  connection  with  the  snakes,  the  keeper  being  a 
very  good-natured  one. 

Once  or  twice  afterwards  I  saw  Marco.   The  last 
lime  about  a  year  ago,  he  was  then  in  first-rate 


society,  being  in  the  same  cage  as  the  Duke  of 
Edinburgh's  opossum,  and  the  happy  possessor  of  a 
wife  and  a  flourishing  young  family.  No  wonder 
with  these  attractions  Marco  Polo  had  forgotten 
me ;  I  think  he  had.  The  keeper  would  not  vouch 
for  his  being  tame,  but  I  ventured  still  to  stroke  his 
beautiful  thick  fur  and  hold  his  hand  in  mine,  and 
he  looked  up  at  me  in  the  old  way,  but  I  do  not 
think  he  knew  me.  Since  then  I  am  rather  uncer- 
tain if  there  has  not  been  a  clearance  of  some  of  the 
opossums,  and  whether  Marco  is  not  gone  off  some- 
where else.  The  name  of  his  old  possessor  no  longer 
hangs  on  the  cage.  A  pleasanter,  tamer  pet  than  a 
domesticated  vulpine  phalangist  no  one  need  wish 
to  have.  M.  A.  D. 


THE  SONG  OF  BIRDS.     . 

TN  your  April  number  •  is  an  extract  from 
-*■  Mudie,  proposing  a  question  as  to  what 
precise  purpose  is  served  by  the  song  of  birds. 
I  conceive  that,  unless  our  eyes  are  filled  with  the 
dust  of  Darwinism,  we  will  not  have  to  search  far 
for  an  answer.  The  soug  of  birds  is  an  arrange- 
ment of  nature— one  of  a  great  class — which,  as  far 
as  we  can  see,  serves  no  purpose  of  direct  utility. 
The  Author  of  Nature  has  not  only  provided  abun- 
dantly for  the  utilities,  but  has  also  been  lavish  in 
decoration.  All  nature  is  rife  with  pleasing  sounds, 
from  the  brief  song  of  the  Robin,  or  the  gentle 
sighing  of  the  summer  breeze,  to  the  grandeur 
and  majesty  of  the  pealing  thunder.  Nature's  de- 
lightful painting  rejoices  the  eye,  and  a  thousand 
fragrant  emanations  regale  the  nose.  ]t  has  been 
beneficently  contrived  that  those  things  which  are 
necessary  to  our  existence  also  minister  to  enjoy- 
ment. Not  only  so,  but  many  things  exist  for  no 
purpose,  unless  it  be  to  confer  pleasure  on  living 
beings,  and  to  display  the  character  and  resources 
of  the  Creator.  What  kind  of  world  would  this  be, 
devoid  of  all  the  unnecessary  variety  and  elegance 
that  surrounds  us  on  every  hand.  One  would 
scarcely  feel  any  reluctance  to  leave  such  a  world. 
I  do  not  mean  to  say,  however,  that  things  created 
merely  for  the  enjoyment  of  sentient  beings  are  of 
no  use.  Our  whole  nature  is  modified  by  our  sur- 
roundings. Objects  of  beauty,  when  appreciated, 
not  only  have  a  refining  influence  on  the  mind, 
but  they  render  us  cheerful  and  joyous.  I  never 
met  a  morose  naturalist.  He  who  has  eyes  to  see, 
and  a  heart  to  admire  the  charms  of  nature,  will 
never  become  so  far  depressed  in  spirits  as  one  who 
has  not  learned  to  enjoy  these  beauties.  Those  in- 
fluences of  nature  that  are  only  aesthetic,  though 
less  obvious,  are  not  less  real  than  those  that  are 
material.  Physiologists  are  well  aware  of  the  con- 
nection between  mental  conditions  and  the  physical 
state  of  the  body.    Thus  it  is  true  in  a  sense  other 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIP. 


151 


than  the  primary  one,  that  "  man  shall  not  live 
by  bread  alone."  And,  further,  I  would  not  be 
so  egotistical  as  to  conclude  that  man  alone  was 
benefited  by  those  things  that  minister  to  our  en- 
joyment. The  psychological  state  of  animals  is 
almost  unknown  to  us :  birds,  liowever,  appear  to 
enjoy  the  brilliance  of  the  summer  sun  more  than 
its  warmth;  and  we  may  reasonably  conclude,  that 
as  the  lower  animals  partake,  to  a  certain  extent, 
of  the  same  nature  as  man,  so  they  may  also  in 
some  degree  partake  of  his  enjoyments.  The  song 
of  birds  has  a  value.  It  is  not,  however,  a  necessity 
for  the  species,  nor  can  it  be  classed  along  with 
such  things  as  the  functions  of  the  liver,  any  more 
than  can  the  gorgeous  colours  of  a  summer  sunset, 
or  the  rich  tints  of  the  rose. 
Belfast.  S.  A.  Stewaut. 


PRESERVATION  OF  SPECIMENS. 

IN  one  of  your  recent  numbers  I  see  that  a  cor- 
respondent entertains  some  doubts  as  to  the 
efficacy  of  camphor  as  a  preservative  of  insects  and 
other  objects  of  natural  history.  I  have  long  ceased 
to  have  any  faith  in  either  camphor,  turpentine, 
naphtha,  or  any  other  atmospheric  poisons  as  an  an- 
tidote against  the  ravages  of  the  larva?  of  the  clothes- 
moth,  or  any  of  the  numerous  acari  which  attack 
dead  animal  matter,  and  which  make  such  fearful 
havoc  amongst  our  far-sought  and  highly-prized 
treasures,  whether  insects  or  birds.  I  am  quite  of 
opinion  that  they  are  mere  quack  nostrums,  un- 
availing in  every  sense  for  performing  the  duty  to 
which  they  are  applied ;  nor  are  the  more  potent 
mineral  poisons— arsenic,  corrosive  sublimate,  &e. — 
much  more  efficacious  when  applied  to  the  indi- 
vidual animal  itself,  whether  as  dry  powder  or 
spirituous  solution.  I  have  frequently  used  the 
solution  of  corrosive  sublimate  to  the  feet  of  birds, 
to  the  bends  of  the  wings,  where  there  is  a  difficulty 
of  removing  the  entire  of  the  muscular  matter  in 
skinning,  to  the  fur  of  quadrupeds,  particularly  about 
the  feet,  and  in  every  case  without  perfect  success  ; 
for  sooner  or  later  the  ravagers  resumed  their 
labours,  even  where  the  mercurial  salts  in  minute 
crystals  were  visible,  after  the  evaporation  of  the 
spirit.  The  late  Charles  Waterton  lays  down  cor- 
rosive sublimate  as  a  perfect  panacea  for  all  the  evils 
which  surround  museum  specimens,  but  I  feel 
certain  from  actual  experience  that  there  is  more 
of  poetry  than  fact  in  that  talented  naturalist's 
doctrine, — a  quality  which  more  or  less  pervades 
much  that  he  has  written.  A  fact  came  under  my 
notice  only  some  few  weeks  ago  going  far  to  prove 
the  utter  worthlessness  of  camphor  as  an  atmo- 
spheric poison.  I  had  a  few  store  boxes  of  insects — 
coleoptera,  orthoptera,  and  lepidoptera, — some  of 
which  I  had  wandered  for  in  the  valleys  and  plains 


of  Chili  and  Peru,  and  the  forests  of  Central 
America  aud  Mexico.  They  had  kept  exceedingly 
well  for  a  number  of  years,  and  about  twelve  months 
ago  I  took  them  all  out,  cleaned  the  boxes,  relined 
them  with  fresh  paper,  and  placed  amongst  them 
any  quantity  of  camphor ;  my  surprise  may  therefore 
be  imagined,  when,  on  opening  them  about  a  month 
ago,  to  find  them  utterly  destroyed,  the  different 
orders  had  all  suffered  alike,  and  were  all  in  one 
common  ruin.  The  larvae  of  some  (to  me)  unknown 
moth,  from  three-quarters  to  an  inch  in  length,  were 
pursuing  their  labours  with  a  zeal  highly  praise- 
worthy—had it  been  in  a  better  cause.  The  soft 
and  edible  portion  of  beetles  was  entirely  consumed, 
and  corslets,  elytra,  heads  and  legs,  were  scattered 
about,  amongst  the  similar  remains  of  crickets, 
locusts,  and  mantes,  &c,  and  the  wings  of  butter- 
flies drawn  up  into  pupa-cases  of  the  silken  se- 
cretion of  the  spoilers.  They  were  labouring  away 
in  active  contact  with  pieces  of  camphor.  Some 
Cambcrwell  Beauties  I  obtained  in  Northern  Spain, 
1  had  taken  the  precaution  to  saturate  with  the 
solution  of  corrosive  sublimate ;  they,  however,  had 
shared  the  common  fate.  Eor  many  years  I  have 
been  annoyed  in  my  collection  by  the  depredations 
of  the  grub  of  the  common  clothes-moth,  but 
these  were  exceedingly  small,  seldom  more  than  a 
quarter  or  three-eighths  of  an  inch;  but  these 
I  have  now  to  complain  of  are,  as  I  said  before, 
when  extended,  nearly  an  inch.  Can  any  of  your  col- 
lecting correspondents  give  me  an  idea  what  they 
are,  or  if  they  "  bear  a  charmed  life"  ? 

In  the  same  room  where  the  unfortunate  dupli- 
cates were  stored  I  have  a  rather  extensive  ento- 
mological collection,  which  has  remained  intact 
for  many  years;  but  these  are  in  upright  wall- 
cases,  and  exposed  to  the  light.  The  light  I  am  of 
opinion  goes  far  as  a  check  to  the  moth  ravagers, 
who,  as  a  rule,  prefer  the  dark  for  the  prosecution 
of  their  labours,  as  they  are  most  commonly  found 
under  the  feet  of  birds,  under  their  wings,  and 
other  dark  and  obscure  places. 

1  am,  quite  of  opinion  that  extreme  dryness  is  the 
best  antidote  against  decay  in  museum  specimens, 
as  I  fancy  neither  moth  larvse,  acari,  vegetable 
mould,  or  other  destructive  agents  can  act  success- 
fully in  the  absence  of  all  moisture ;  and  were  the 
temperature  in  our  collections  never  to  be  allowed 
to  fall  below  70°  Fahrenheit,  no  preparation  of  any 
kind,  either  for  poisoning  the  specimen,  or  the 
atmosphere  by  which  it  is  surrounded,  would  be 
necessary ;  dryness  alone  would  present  a  sufficient 
barrier  to  decay.  I  merely  adduce  this  as  an  opinion ; 
how  far  it  will  meet  the  confirmation  or  dissent  of 
your  far  more  able  correspondents,  time  mayf  best 
show.  In  conclusion,  one  instance  may  add  a  little 
weight  to  what  I  have  asserted.  When  a  boy,  forty- 
five  years  ago,  I  set  up  a  barn  owl,  with  the  intes- 
tines and  viscera  extracted,  without  any  prepara- 


15< 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


tion,  except  a  little  alum  and  pepper;  it  has  stood 
on  a  shelf  in  the  kitchen,  without  case  or  cover, 
where  the  temperature  is  pretty  high,  to  this  time 
entirely  uninjured;  while  rarer  birds,  upon  which 
I  have  employed  every  care  in  skinning,  preserving, 
and  casing,  have  long  ago  gone  to  utter  decay, 

Jos.  R.  Wallace. 
Cumberland  Museum,  near  Whitehaven. 


DARKLING  SPIDERS. 

TN  Science-Gossip  for  January,  Mr.  J.  R.  S. 
-*-  Clifford  asks  some  questions  not  very  easy  to 
answer,  in  regard  to  the  food,  &c,  of  spiders  which 
inhabit  dark  unused  cellars, from  which  perhaps  light 
is  shut  out  for  months  together.  Mr.  Clifford  also 
asks  why  such  spiders  spin  webs,  seeing  that  few, 
it  any,  insects  ever  approach  them ;  and  suggests 
that  these  spiders  come  out  on  hunting  expeditions 
to  obtain  food,  and  that  the  only  use  of  the  webs  is 
as  habitations. 

I  now  beg  to  introduce  to  the  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip  another  darkling  spicier,  which  lives  under 
circumstances  similar  to  Mr.  Clifford's  pets,  with 
this  difference,  that  whereas  his  live  in  the  base- 
ment of  a  house,  mine  lives  several  hundred  feet 
below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  in  a  darkness 
which  has  never  been  broken  by  the  slightest  ray 
of  daylight,  and  so  seldom  by  artificial  light,  that 
probably  several  generations  of  spiders  may  be 
born,  live,  and  die  without  having  seen  light  at  all. 
To  Mr.  Clifford's  remains  the  liberty  of  coming  out 
when  they  choose  ;  of  mine  may  be  said — 

"  Superasque  evadere  ad  auras, 
Hoc  opus,  hie  labor  est." 

This  dweller  in  Cimmerian  darkness  is  the  little 
Neriene  errans,  and  its  chosen  habitation  is  some  of 
the  Durham  coalpits,  in  one  of  which  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  making  its  acquaintance  some  years  ago. 

Before,  however,  narrating  my  experience  in  re- 
gard to  it,  I  will  give  one  or  two  extracts  from  a 
paper  by  Mi-.  Meade,  in  the  '"'Annals  and  Magazine 
of  Natural  History"  for  July,  I860.  Extensive 
masses  of  web-like  tissue  had  often  been  noticed  in 
some  of  the  northern  collieries,  but  had  always 
been  considered  to  be  the  mycelium  of  some  fungus, 
till  my  friend,  Mr.  D.  P.  Morison's  duties,  in  con- 
nection with  the  Pelton  colliery,  brought  these 
masses  to  his  notice.  Mr.  Morison's  entomological 
knowledge  led  him  to  suspect  the  true  origin  of 
the  web-like  layers  ;  and,  to  satisfy  himself,  he  sent 
specimens  to  Mr.  Stainton,  who  forwarded  them  to 
Mr.  Meade.  A  correspondence  then  ensued  between 
Mr.  Morison  and  Mr.  Meade,  the  result  of  which 
was  the  above-mentioned  paper  in  the  "  Annals," 
from  which  I  extract  the  following : — 

"  The  mine  in  which  these  spiders  and  their  webs 
are  found  is  called  the  Pelton  Colliery.  The  seam  of 


coal  averages  4  feet  6  inches  in  thickness,  and  is  320 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  ground ;  about  seventy- 
five  horses  and  ponies  are  employed  in  the  mine  ; 
and  Mr.  Morison  suggests  that  the  insects  upon 
which  the  spiders  live  are  conveyed  down  with  the 
fodder  for  the  horses.  He  also  tells  me  that  '  the 
spiders  themselves  are  to  be  found  in  the  waste,  or 
parts  of  the  pit  not  actually  at  work  ;  and  the  webs 
are  generally  spun  in  galleries  through  which  little 
or  no  air  passes.  The  spiders  seem  to  be  quite 
gregarious,  as  whenever  a  rent  has  been  made  in 
any  of  these  productions,  they  might  be  counted  by 
scores  together  (so  our  wastemen  tell  me)  repairing 
the  damage.  They  seem  to  be,  in  spite  of  their 
dark  existence,  very  susceptible  to  light,  and  the 
appearance  of  a  lamp  produces  no  small  commotion 
among  them.' 

"It  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  fact  that  a 
minute  spider,  ordinarily  living  in  the  open  fields, 
should  find  its  way  to  such  a  depth  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  multiply  to  such  an 
extent  as  to  be  able  to  construct,  by  the  united 
labour  of  hundreds,  immense  sheets  of  web,  stretch- 
ing through  all  the  deserted  subterranean  galleries. 
It  seems  that  this  little  creature,  at  the  same  time 
that  it  shifted  its  abode,  must  also  have  acquired 
new  instincts,  becoming  social  and  gregarious  in 
its  habits,  and  thus  departing  from  the  manners  of 
most  of  the  spider  tribe,  which  are  usually  solitary, 
except  when  quite  young.  It  may  be  said  that 
numerous  and  large  spiders'  webs  are  often  met 
with  in  other  dark  underground  places  besides  coal- 
pits (as  cellars,  caves,  &c.) ;  but  these  are  always 
constructed  by  larger  species,  each  individual  living 
separately,  and  having  its  own  web ;  the  spiders 
forming  them  may  also  mostly  be  referred  to  the 
genus  Tegenaria,  to  which  our  common  house-spider 
belongs." 

Now  for  my  introduction  to  the  Xeriene  "at 
home." 

When  on  a  visit  to  Mr.  Morison,  in  1S6G,  he 
suggested  that  we  should  go  and  see  the  spiders,  a 
proposition  to  which  I  at  once  agreed.  So  arraying 
ourselves  in  the  appropriate  habiliments,  we  de- 
scended the  pit,  and  having  been  provided  with 
safety  lamps,  proceeded  to  the  "  waste."  Persons 
who  have  been  into  such  a  place  need  not  be  fold 
that  the  silence  that  reigns  there  is  profound  ; 
but  to  those  who,  like  myself,  have  never  before 
been  down  a  coal-pit,  it  is  perfectly  appalling, 
especially  when  the  thought  arises,  that  if  the  roof 
of  the  galleries  (which  was  in  some  places  so  un- 
pleasantly low  as  to  entail  a  mode  of  locomotion 
more  suited  to  quadrupeds  than  bipeds)  were  to 
"cave  in,"  what  an  unpleasant  predicament  we 
should  be  in  !  Such  silence  I  had  never  before 
experienced  ;  but  since  then  I  have  been  in  an 
equally  silent,  but  far  different  place,  the  "  Jardin" 
of  Mont  Blanc. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


153 


At  last,  after  creeping  through  various  holes,  we 
came  to  the  spiders,  and  forgot  the  silence  and  the 
low  roof  in  the  excitement  of  hunting  them  out.  I 
did  not  notice  any  insects  in  the  webs,  but  Mr. 
Morison  has  found  the  remains  of  some  of  the 
Tineina.  I  saw  several  individuals  of  apparently 
some  species  of  Poduridce,  creeping  about  the  walls, 
but  did  not  succeed  in  securing  any  specimens.  1, 
however,  brought  away  a  lew  of  the  Neriene,  which 
I  afterwards  presented  to  the  British  Museum. 
E.  Buchanan  AViiite,  M.D. 


ENGLISH.  MOCKING-BIRDS. 

A  RAMBLE  through  the  wood  at  this  par- 
ticular season  of  the  year  carries  one  back  to 
the  days  of  boyhood,  when  we  listened  with  delight 
to  the  cuckoo ;  and  very  many  of  us  can  look  back 
with  joy  to  the  days  when  we  hunted  the  wood  in 
quest  of  birdsnests,  stick  in  hand,  knocking  at  the 
trunk  of  every  tree  that  happened  to  have  hay  or 
hair  attached. 

Whatever  may  be  the  difference  of  opinion,  there 
is  certainly  a  charm  not  to  be  forgotten— our  boyish 
delight  would  not  allow  us  time  to  consider  whether 
it  was  cruel  to  rob  the  old  birds  of  their  young. 
Away  we  go  merrily,  tap,  tap,  echo,  echo ;  what's 
that— a  nest?  yes  'tis  one,  a  nest;  up  we  go,  must 
have  it.  Our  expectation  is  raised  to  the  highest,  no 
danger  will  stop  us ;  although  a  break-neck  chance, 
up  we  go ;  after  much  climbing  and  slipping  and 
•'  hairbreadth  'scapes "  the  nest  is  reached ;  but, 
alas,  all  in  vain ;  it  is  an  old  one,  so  after  a  day's  toil 
and  pleasure  we,  having  taken  nothing,  determine 
to  have  another  day ;  but  in  the  mean  time  we  pur- 
chase a  queer-looking  bird,  bill  and  legs  long,  no 
tail  (but  he  soon  will  have  one),  pink  capacious 
mouth,  body  black  and  white. 

The  recollection  of  this  bird  suggests  a  thought ; 
how  many  mocking-birds  does  this  country  pro- 
duce ? 

Eor  not  only  have  many  of  our  birds  the  power 
of  imitating  each  other,  but  are  really  good  mocking- 
birds, of  course  inferior  to  the  grey  parrot  of  Africa ; 
but  equal,  and  more  so,  surpassing  the  crested 
and  pert-looking  cockatoo,  which  makes  a  great 
noise,  and  has  but  little  to  say ;  and  for  beauty  of 
feather  our  mocking-birds  are  not  surpassed ;  for 
cunningness  they  are  often  a  match  for  man.  Take 
for  instance  the  beautiful  magpie — the  intelligent 
eye,  superb  plumage,  shining  with  so  many  hues, 
and  handsome  symmetry ;  but  perhaps  the  most  en- 
chanting of  all  is  the  perfect  cunningness  displayed 
in  its  every  movement :  even  sitting  still  seems 
mischief,  every  step  seems  bent  upon  some  rascality, 
and  when  actually  enjoying  himself,  we  get  the 
most  amusing  mischief  one  could  coin;  monkey- 
like, but  so  much  more  refined. 


Wood,  in  "My  Feathered  Friends,"  says,  "There 
is  a  green  pan  placed  by  the  side  of  the  door,  which 
he  considers  as  his  own  property  ;  after  the  milkman 
has  furnished  the  quantity  required  by  the  house, 
he  pours  a  few  spoonfuls  into  the  pan  for  Mag. 
Mag  is  grateful  for  the  kindness,  and  usually  escorts 
the  man  as  far  as  the  door.  After  the  gate  is  shut, 
he  thinks  the  obligations  of  hospitality  satisfied, 
and  peeps  underneath  to  see  if  there  is  any  chance 
of  pecking  anybody's  ankles.  For  he  has  a  great 
predilection  for  ankles.  If  a  female  visitor  is  hardy 
enough  to  take  a  seat  in  the  kitchen,  Mag  is  de- 
lighted :  he  hides  himself  under  the  chair  and  then, 
watching  his  opportunity,  administers  a  severe  peck 
to  the  ankles;  the  aggrieved  party  jumps  up,  but 
sees  nothing,  for  Mag  takes  good  care  to  keep  him- 
self out  of  view." 

All  this  is  but  a  tithe  of  his  mischief,  as  those  well 
know  who  have  been  so  fortunate  as  to  have  kept 
a  tame  magpie  not  in  captivity.  Not  only  for  his  mis- 
chievousness  is  he  worthy  of  notice,  he  is  capable 
of  great  attachment,  following  you  about  like  a  dog, 
feeding  from  the  hand.  And  in  a  garden  he  is 
most  useful,  destroying  a  host  of  insects  and  keep- 
ing the  ground  free  from  small  birds ;  so  as  a 
watcher  he  might  be  prized  by  many,  for  he  is  al- 
ways on  the  alert,  seemingly  proud  of  his  charge, 
fearless  of  every  thing,  even  making  sport  of  the 
cats. 

I  have  seen  puss  walking  off  as  though  she  did 
not  see  Mag,  who  is  strutting  after  her  with  his 
tail  erect  only  looking  out  for  the  chance  to  catch 
hold  of  her  tail — a  feat  which  he  mostly  accom- 
plished. Now  puss  would  stop,  Mag  the  same ;  puss 
makes  a  move,  Mag  follows  ;  now  a  chance  occurs, 
Mag  gets  hold  of  the  cat's  tail,  and  before  puss  gets 
round  the  rascal  mounts  the  fence  and  sits  there 
wagging  his  tail,  eyeing  puss  coolly  and  cunningly, 
as  though  he  had  been  there  an  hour ;  the  cat  is  now 
allowed  to  slink  oil  while  Mag  seeks  some  fresh 
sport. 

There  is  a  great  flourish  to  his  oddities  :  he  is  a 
fine  mocking-bird,  being  capable  of  speaking  many 
words,  and  very  plainly  too  ;  equally  as  comprehen- 
sible as  the  African  parrot,  but  of  course  not  able 
to  manage  so  many. 

I  might  here  mention  that  Mag  is  not  difficult  to 
teach,  and  very  little  trouble  to  rear;  in  fact  he  is 
hardy,  only  requiring  a  little  raw  meat  and  other 
soft  food.  As  soon  as  Mag  can  feed  himself,  you 
may  leave  the  door  of  his  cage  open ;  he  will  then 
get  about,  and  soon  be  strong  enough  to  defy  all 
domestic  pets. 

A  short  time  ago,  while  rambling  through  the 
woods,  I  found  a  beautiful  mocking-bird,  dead  of 
course.  How  many  of  these  birds  are  destroyed  by 
men  who  rarely  trouble  themselves  about  natural 
history ;  scarcely  caring  to  be  able  to  distinguish 
one  bird  from  another,  having  no  why  or  wherefore, 


154 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOS  SIP. 


merely  that  they  have  knocked  down  a  bird,  thrust 
it  into  the  pocket  and  carried  it  home  for  the  children 
or  cat. 

The  bird  I  found  was  remarkably  handsome  ;  had 
it  been  a  foreigner,  no  doubt  it  would  have  com- 
manded a  high  price.  Its  beautiful  crest  of  soft  light 
brown  feathers,  striped  with  black,  surmounting  a 
beautifully-shaped  head,  handsomely  ornamented  by 
an  intelligent  light-coloured  eye?  the  back  and 
breast  a  beautiful  soft  brown ;  pinions  of  the  wing 
the  same,  from  which  spring  some  pretty  blue 
feathers,  barred  by  three  or  more  shades  blending 
rom  a  very  light  to  almost  black ;  the  quill  of  these 
feathers  being  a  jet  black,  and  as  fine  as  a  hair, 
giving  the  whole  a  remarkably  handsome  appear- 
ance. The  largest  of  the  wing-feathers  are  fringed 
with  a  bluish- white,  the  upper  long  ones  are  a 
velvety  black,  about  the  centre  of  which  each  has 
an  elongated  serrated  white  mark,  fringed  with 
pretty  blue ;  the  whole  being  crowned  by  a  few 
beautiful  black  feathers,  legs  a  delicate  pinky  hue, 
quite  in  keeping  with  the  body  of  the  bird  so  feebly 
here  described,  known  as  the  common  jay. 

The  Jay  can  be  domesticated,  and  will  be  found  a 
cheerful  companion ;  he  can  be  taught  to  talk  well. 
He  will  require  the  same  treatment  as  the  magpie. 
Both  birds  must  be  kept  clean,  and  will  require  a 
plentiful  supply  of  water,  as  they  are  passionately 
fond  of  bathing.  At  this  time  of  the  year  either  of 
these  beautiful  mocking-birds  can  be  purchased  at 
less  than  two  shillings  each. 

Our  next  is  the  Jackdaw,  which  is  soon  domesti- 
cated, but  is  scarcely  worth  the  trouble ;  he  has 
some  cunningness,  but  barely  enough  to  keep  him- 
self at  liberty ;  it  is  not  difficult  to  catch  a  tame 
jackdaw,  but  not  so  with  the  above-mentioned 
birds,  that  are  rarely  caught  by  any  device.  He 
will  bear  confinement  well,  but  should  have  a  large 
cage ;  he  is  capable  of  great  attachment,  and  can  be 
taught  a  few  words.  His  tone  of  voice  is  not  so 
good  as  the  magpie  or  jay.  He  should  have  flesh 
and  a  bountiful  supply  of  water. 

The  Starling  is  very  worthy  of  notice  as  a 
mocking-bird;  he  has  a  beautiful  plumage,  purple 
and  gold:  his  feathers  are  a  rich  purple,  with  a 
yellow  spot  on  the  tips ;  the  purple  showing  beau- 
tiful shades,  according  to  the  exposure  to  light.  He 
has  a  fine  yellow  bill,  which,  for  the  size  of  the  bird, 
is  rather  long.  He  is  extremely  cunning,  and  when 
in  the  field  seems  to  exert  the  whole  of  his  ability  for 
self-preservation;,  he  is  not  easily  shot,  although 
within  range  of  your  gun,  taking  care  to  keep  close 
to  cattle,  so  that  you  could  not  well  hit  one  without 
the  other.  His  nest  is  frequently  built  in  a  tree  near 
your  door,  the  entrance  of  which  will  not  admit  the 
hand,  and  by  his  perfect  composure  seems  to  con- 
vince you  of  his  well-chosen  security. 

The  Starling  will  sometimes  live  to  a  great  age. 
I  recently  heard  of  one,  now  in  the  possession  of  a 


commissioner  from  the  Danish  Government,  that 
lost  a  leg  in.  the  Crimea  at  the  time  of  the  Prussian 
war.  Jacob  was  furnished  with  a  quill  fastened  by 
apiece  of  India-rubber,  a  substitute  which  answered 
the  purpose  well. 

The  Starling  is  an  excellent  mocking-bird ;  he 
can  be  taught  to  say  almost  anything ;  besides 
which,  he  will  whistle  several  tunes,  at  the  same 
time  becoming  very  tame. 

All  birds  that  are  to  be  taught  must  be  brought 
up  from  the  nest,  or  your  exertions  will  be  in  vain. 
Perhaps  of  the  birds  here  mentioned,  the  Starling  is 
the  best  to  keep  in  a  cage ;  he  will  eat  almost  any- 
thing, but  cannot  do  well  without  a  little  raw  meat. 

'    C.  J.  W.  IlTOD. 


THE  CAPTIVE  BULLFINCH. 

"TE  the  majority  of  bird-lovers,  male  aud  female, 
-*-  old  or  young,  were  aware  how  attractive 
a  bird  our  English  Bullfinch  is  when  caged,  the 
demand  for  this  species  would  ere  long  exceed  the 
possible  supply.  Now,  most  years,  a  certain  supply 
of  these  birds  is  in  the  market  in  December  or 
January,  the  price  then  varying  from  two  to  three 
shillings  ;  whereas  a  few  months  later  you  will  be 
asked  five  or  seven,  on  the  plea  that  the  individuals 
offered  you  have  become  tame,  and  are  also  in  full 
song.  The  latter  may  be  true,  the  former  quality  is  not 
one  birds  readily  acquire  in  bird  shops,  unless  they 
may  happen  to  have  been  considerably  short  of  food. 
In  fact,  tameness  in  birds,  as  in  most  other  animals, 
is  a  thing  produced  by  the  giving  of  particular 
attention  to  the  object  in  which  it  is  sought  to  be 
developed — it  is  a  result  of  culture  usually,  and  the 
ordinary  vendor  of  birds  has  scarcely  the  time,  or 
the  inclination,  to  make  attempts  at  taming  many 
out  of  the  hundreds  which  pass  through  his  hands. 
Moreover,  they  have  at  the  aforesaid  establishments 
some  mode  of  terrifying  for  the  nonce,  a  fiuttering 
bird  into  seeming  quiescence.  Therefore,  gentle 
reader,  when  about  to  purchase  a  feathered  biped 
do  not  be  persuaded  to  pay  an  additional  premium 
for  a  bird  "warranted  to  be  tame,"  because  the 
chances  are  that  you  will  be  swindled  thereby. 

Returning  to  the  point  we  started  from,  I  repeat 
that  an  English  bullfinch  is  a  far  better  investment 
than  some  may  suppose ;  and  as  you  can  buy  a 
dozen  for  the  same  amount  you  would  pay  for  a 
German  bird,  which  dies  perhaps  in  a  few  weeks,  or 
at  auy  rate,  in  a  year  or  twro,  and  perhaps  treats 
you  to  a  "mixtie  maxtic"of  airs  (to  use  Burns's 
expressive  words),  instead  of  the  distinctive  songs 
you  hoped  to  listen  to.  Not  that  our  native  bird  is 
at  all  a  bad  vocalist.  In  ordinary  descriptive  books 
he  is  said  to  have  only  two  or  three  notes.  This  is 
a  mistake  ;  all  I  have  heard  in  cages  giving  utter- 
ance to  a  much  greater  variety.  Besides  the 
ordinary  call-note,  it  will  bejioticed  that  when  this 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


LbU 


bird  is  in  health  it  will  be  almost  incessantly 
uttering  a  note  in  a  still  lower  key,  which  is  formed 
without  opening  the  bill ;  but  it  is  not  very  easy  to 
ascertain  from  the  song  of  the  imprisoned  bullfinch 
what  notes  he  whistles  in  the  woods  and  orchards, 
because  when  caged  he  introduces  a  variety  of  notes 
into  his  melody,  should  he  have  been  kept  within 
hearing  distance  of  other  singing-birds.  These 
casual  notes  are  interjected  in  a  singular  manner, 
but  do  not  totally  overpower  what  seems  to  be  his 
own  peculiar  strain.  One  bird  which  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  observing,  brought  in  occasionally  a 
long  shrill  whistle ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  by 
frequently  whistling  before  even  an  adult  bird  some 
simple  tune,  it  might  be  made  to  pick  up  at  least 
fragments  of  it.  However  tame  a  bullfinch  may 
have  become,  it  is  usually  reluctant  to  sing  unless 
it  is  alone ;  though  with  some  the  song  may  be 
started  if  a  person  stands  near  them,  and  moves  his 
head  slowly  to  and  fro,  at  the  same  time  making  a 
low  monotonous  whistle. 

I  am  afraid  that  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
Bullfinch  is  not  remarkable  for  his  sociality — at 
least  towards  other  birds.  In  aviaries,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware,  this  bird  is  rarely  introduced,  nor  would 
he  be  likely  to  conduct  himself  in  a  mixed  society 
of  finches  with  much  regard  to  courtesy.  One 
which  I  have  seen  in  cage  for  some  time,  has  always 
manifested  much  indignation  if  another  bird  was 
brought  at  all  near  to  him ;  and  he  also  showed  a 
curious  antipathy  to,  or  jealousy  of,  children, 
arising  possibly  from  the  same  cause  as  that  feeling 
many  dogs  display,  when  children  are  noticed  before 
them,  and  which  is  sometimes  so  strong  that,  if  not 
kept  back,  they  will  actually  fly  at  the  person 
caressed.  The  Bullfinch,  however,  satisfied  himself 
by  opening  his  mouth  angrily  and  uttering  a  hoarse 
croak. 

If  not  cordially  disposed  towards  his  brethren, 
this  bird  soon  becomes  exceedingly  familiar  and 
affectionate,  if  kindly  treated  by  those  about  him. 
He  may  be  taught  to  take  seeds  from  the  finger  or 
the  mouth,  and  will  distinguish  his  usual  feeder 
from  other  individuals  he  may  be  accustomed  to  see. 
When  thus  tamed,  on  the  approach  to  his  cage  of 
any  one  he  recognizes,  he  will  perform  a  friendly 
salute,  by  tapping  gently  with  his  bill  upon  the  face 
or  the  hand,  if  presented  to  him.  One  thing  is 
notable,  that  however  wild  a  bullfinch  may  be,  he 
despises  all  efforts  to  disturb  him  at  night.  When 
sleep  overpowers  him,  he  settles  himself  down  with 
resolute  stolidity ;  and  one  that  has  been  during  the 
day  in  a  flutter  if  there  was  any  one  within  a  few 
feet  of  him,  may  be  approached  after  roosting-time 
with  a  lighted  candle,  and  though  he  may  deign  just 
to  turn  his  head  round,  he  will  not  move  on  his 
perch. 

It  has  been  observed,  doubtless,  by  those  who 
have  kept  different  species  of  finches  in  cages  or 


aviaries,  that  most  individuals  of  such  species  as  the 
goldfinch  and  linnet,  though  they  may  be  tolerably 
tame,  do  not  care  to  be  set  at  liberty  in  a  room.  The 
canary  will  recreate  himself  greatly  in  this  manner ; 
for,  through  having  been  bred  in  confinement  for 
many  generations,  he  has  become  thoroughly 
domesticated;  but  not  so  other  finches,  which  arc 
either  unwilling  to  leave  their  cages  at  all,  or,  if 
liberated,  fly  about  wildly.  The  only  exception  is  in 
the  case  of  some  nestlings,  which  frequently  acquire, 
as  it  were,  habits  differing  from  those  natural  to  the 
species.  The  Bullfinch,  in  particular,  is  very  un- 
comfortable when  taken  from  his  domicile.  The 
effect  upon  him  of  this  unwonted  liberty  is  a  com- 
plete confusion  of  ideas ;  he  dashes  wildly  at  the 
window,  or  against  some  conspicuous  object — or,  as 
in  a  recent  instance,  when  one  was  liberated  in  a 
room  where  there  was  a  fire  burning,  he  darted 
towards  it  under  some  erroneous  impression  as  to 
its  nature,  we  may  suppose.  The  hapless  bird 
alluded  to  actually  planted  himself  upon  the  top  of 
the  coals,  whence  he  was  rescued  with  some  damage 
to  leg  and  wing;  the  result  being  that  one  leg  after- 
wards dropped  off.  In  spite  of  this, he  still  manages, 
by  means  of  the  remaining  limb  and  the  stump, 
to  mount  his  perches,  although  his  tumbles  are 
frequent. 

Hemp-seed,  so  it  is  said,  decays  the  colour  of 
bullfinches.  Unfortunately  there  are  some  which 
positively  reject  other  food ;  a  mixture  of  hemp  and 
rape  seems,  as  far  as  health  is  concerned,  to  suit 
them  tolerably  well.  If  possible,  it  may  be  more 
advantageous  to  keep  them  on  canary  and  rape,  with 
a  little  poppy-seed  added  occasionally.  Considerable 
satisfaction  is  afforded  to  a  bullfinch  I  am 
accustomed  to  observe,  by  the  donation  of  occa- 
sional flies,  which  he  gobbles  up  readily.  He  is, 
nevertheless,  highly  discriminating,  rejecting  most 
decidedly  any  that  are  offered  to  him  which  do  not 
belong  to  the  species  domestica.  At  times  he  will 
attempt  to  catch  these  as  they  fly  about  his  cage  in 
summer,  though  rarely  successful,  through  his  lack 
of  agility.  J.  ft.  S.  C. 


THE   ELEA. 

(Pulex  irritans.) 

PT1HE  notice  of  Mr.  Eurlonge's  paper  on  the 
-*-  anatomy  of  the  flea  in  the  May  number  of 
Science-Gossip  (which  gives  me  all  my  knowledge 
of  it),  has  led  me  to  look  over  some  notes  in  my 
portfolio,  and  a  drawing  made  on  the  screen  of 
the  solar  microscope,  more  than  two  years  ago, 
of  the  tongue  and  lancets  of  the  Bed-flea. 
Very  little  seems  to  have  been  known  of  this 
familiar  object  before  the  appearance  of  M.  W. 
Lens  Aldous's  beautiful  and  well-known  drawing 
made  under  the  solar  microscope ;    for  the  par- 


156 


HARD  WICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ticulars  given  in  the  Micrograpbic  Dictionary  are 
so  very  wide  of  the  mark  as  to  be  likely  only  to 
puzzle  and  mislead.  Mr.  Aldous  is  therefore  en- 
titled to  our  thanks,  while  it  must  be  contended 
that  his  drawing  has  been,  as  the  florists  say,  too 
much  "  dressed  ; "  that  it  is,  in  short,  sensational ; 
and  the  French,  it  is  admitted,  do  love  a  sensation, 
and  that  sometimes  of  a  less  innocuous  kind.  The 
tongue  is  set  on  too  high  (after  the  fashion  of  an 
elephant's  trunk),  on  a  level  with  the  insertion  of 
the  palpi,  out  of  the  line  of  the  alimentary  channel, 
and  too  far  from  the  lace-like  case  provided  for  it ; 
this,  in  the  absence  of  its  true  tenant,  left  out  in 


Fig.  75.  Tongue  and  Lancets  of  Flea  x  200.  1,1.  Lancets" 
2.  Tongue.  3.  Tongue-case.  4,  4.  Lancet  Sheaths. 
5.  Palpi. 

the  cold,  is  appropriated  to  the  lancets,  and  the 
proper  coverings  of  these  are  treated  as  mere  appen- 
dages to  the  head,  without  use  assigned ;  for  there 
is  nothing  left  for  them  to  cover.  Professor  Rymer 
Jones,  in  his  "  General  Outline  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom," p.  258,  gives  a  reduced  copy  of  this  drawing, 
and  thus  explains  it :— "  In  this  insect  the  piercing 
organs  are  two  sharp  and  razor-like  instruments, 
placed  on  each  side  of  the  elongated  tongue,  and 


enclosed  in  a  sheath  (4,  4),"  (this  tongue-sheath) 
''probably  formed  by  pieces  representing  the  man- 
dibles of  mandibulate  insects.  Two  palpi  or  feelers, 
and  a  pair  of  triangular  plates,  complete  this  re- 
markable apparatus." 

It. is  these  triangular  plates  I  would  beg  to  bring 
in  question.     It  will  be  observed  in  the  illustration 
to  this  paper,  that  the  backs  of  the  lancets  are 
jointed  so  as  to  admit  their  taking  the  form  of  curves, 
the  blades  from  their  horny  nature  being  no  doubt 
flexible  too,  and  indeed  they  are  in  some  speci- 
mens seen  to  be  so.    They  can  also,  it  would  seem, 
from  the  appearance  of  the  arms  on  which  they  are 
fixed,  be  retracted,  like  the  claws  of  a  cat,  and  in 
this  form  and  position  would  naturally  rise  into  the 
sheaths  placed  just  above  them,  and  which  appear 
well  fitted  for  tneir  reception.    I  have  not  hesitated 
accordingly  to  name  the  "  triangular  plates"  lancet- 
sheaths.    The  tongue  then  will  occupy  the  beautiful 
case  provided  for  it,  and  which  from  its  position  can 
suit  nothing  else.    It  should  be  noted  that  only  one 
side  of  this  case  is  given  in  the  illustration,  the  other 
half  having  been  out  of  focus ;  and  that  the  lancet- 
sheaths  are   distorted   somewhat  from  their  true 
position  by  the  pressure  of  the  covering  glass :  they 
should  be  exactly  parallel. 

i  I  am  curious  to  see  whether  Mr.  Eurlonge,  in  his 
paper  read  before  the  Queket  Club,  takes  the  same 
views.  To  prepare  the  head  of  the  Plea  for  this 
investigation  is  not  difficult :  having  first  caught 
your  flea,  immerse  it  for  two  or  three  weeks  in 
spirits  of  wine,  and  then,  having  covered  it  with  a 
drop  of  thick  gum  on  a  slip  of  glass,  to  prevent 
flying  under  the  knife,  sever  the  head  from  the 
body  and  legs ;  press  this  severely  between  two 
slips  of  glass„while  on  the  stage  of  the  microscope, 
and  when  the  parts  are  seen  to  be  fully  developed 
dip  in  spirits  of  turpentine  and  mount  at  once  in 
balsam  under  strong  pressure  ;  for  the  integument 
is  thick  and  as  hard  almost  as  tortoiseshell.  A  more 
transparent  preparation  might  be  made  by  using  a 
caustic  solution,  but  this  might  be  at  the  sacrifice 
of  some  delicate  parts.  S.  S. 


Canada  Goose. — A  very  fine  specimen  of  the 
Canada  goose  (Anser  Canadensis)  was  shot  to- 
day (the  3rd  June),  by.George  Lamb,  a  beckwatcher 
to  the  Driffield  Anglers'  Club,  at  Brighain,  a  few- 
miles  down  this  stream.  The  bird  was  a  male,  and 
weighed  thirteen  pounds. — George  li.  Dawson,  near 
Drijfield,  Yorkshire. 

New  Bkitish  Cluster- cur.— Mr.  R.  Southey 
Hill  has  discovered,  near  Basingstoke,  on  the  leaves 
of  Statice,  a  species  of  cluster-cups  new  to  Britain 

and   rare   on  the   continent.     It   is   the   jEcidiuiu 
stalices,  Desm. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


157 


FOSSIL  OOLITIC  PLANTS. 

A  FEW  years  ago  I  purchased  of  a  dealer  in 
curiosities  at  Scarborough  some  sections  of 
fossil  plants,  which  he  had  prepared  from  the 
pebbles  which  he  had  found  on  the  shore.  Though 
it  is  impossible  to  say  with  certainty  from  what 


particular     formation     they      were     derived,      it 
seems   most    probable    that   they  came  from  the 


Fig.  76,  x  4|. 


Fig.  77,  x  30. 


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m 

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Fig.  78,  x    100. 


Fig.  85,  x    240. 

Upper  Sandstone,  which  lies  below  the  Corn-brash, 
and  which  occurs  at  Carnelian  Bay  and  Gristhorpe 


15S 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIP 


Bay.  Two  of  them  (76  to  79),  Endogens,  are  probably 
palms  ;  tbe  third,  au  Exogen,  seems  to  have  been, 
perhaps,  a  climbing  plant,  as  I  judge  from  the 
peculiar  twistirg  of  the  medullary  rays. 

The  concentric  bands  in  the  cells  of  fig.  79, 
are  interesting ;  but  are  probably  due  to  the  suc- 
cessive deposits  of  silica.  It  is  very  wonderful  how 
some  portions  of  vegetable  structure  are  represented 
(I  suppose  one  can  hardly  say  preserved)  in  all 
three  specimens.  The  fossilization  of  such  plants 
must  to  some  extent  have  been  rapid,  or  the  soft 
vegetable  structures  would  have  perislied  before 
they  could  be  replaced  by  silica. 

I  hope  some  of  your  readers,  who  are  familiar 
with  the  microscopical  aspect  of  tropical  vegetation, 
may  be  able  to  throw  some  light  upon  these  inter- 
esting remains.  J.  S.  Tute. 


NOTES  AT  NANSLADRON,  NEAR  ST. 
AUSTLE,   CORNWALL. 

GOLDEN  ORIOLE— In  the  early  part  of  May, 
1SG8,  I  noticed  the  voice  of  a  bird  in  the 
woods  surrounding  Nansladron,  quite  new  to  me. 
Every  friend  whose  attention  was  directed  to  the 
sounds  declared  that  they  were  equally  new  to  him. 
One  person  Suggested  it  was  a  parrot  or  parroquet 
escaped  from  its  cage  ;  another,  that  it  was  a  varia- 
tion in  the  cry  of  the  Green  Woodpecker ;  and  for 
many  days,  owing  to  the  extreme  shyness  of  the  bird, 
it  was  impossible  to  say  what  denizen  of  the  air  pro- 
duced such,  extraordinary  music ;  but  on  the  17th 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  come  upon  it  suddenly  in 
the  orchard,  and  as  it  flew  away  from  me  at  not  a 
greater  distance  than  twenty  feet,  and  continued  to 
utter  its  note  "  puhlo,  puhlo"  in  its  flight,  the  size 
of  the  bird,  and  the  blaze  of  gold  in  the  sunshine, 
immediately  proclaimed  our  new  friend  to  be  no 
other  that  the  Golden  Oriole  (Oriolus  galbula). 

On  the  day  it  was  first  recognized,  it  appeared  to 
have  made  up  its  mindto  tenant  a  little  wood  of  about 
an  acre  behind  our  house,  for  it  remained  there  till 
late  in  the  afternoon,  when,  hearing  a  tremendous 
noise  amongst  a  body  of  rooks  in  the  constant  habit 
of  visiting  this  wood,  I  went  up  to  see  what  was  the 
matter,  and  found  the  poor  oriole  in  the  midst  of 
hot  persecution.  He  was  being  driven  from  pillar  to 
post,  and  every  "caw"  of  the  rooks  seemed  to  say 
as  clearly  as  possible,  "  Out,  out,  turn  him  out,  who- 
ever heard  of  a  yellow  bird,— turn  him  out ; "  so  that 
the  poor  oriole  was  compelled  to  fly  for  its  life,  and 
very  possibly  my  coming  to  the  rescue  was  the 
turning  point  of  its  existence. 

I  do  not  think  it  ever  visited  our  wood  again ;  it 
was  seen  a  few  times  in  the  orchard,  and  we  had  the 
daily  pleasure  till  the  end  of  the  month  of  listening 
to  its  loud,  clear,  ringing  bell-like  voice  in  the  trees 
of  the  St.  Austle  valley.   We  noticed  during  the  last 


few  days  of  May,  that  the  cry  was  shortened  into 
"lo,  lo,"  the  "puh  "being  left  out;  and  soon  after 
the  beginning  of  June,  acquaintance  with  our  new 
friendsuddenly  ceased.  We  will  hope  that  itsabsence 
depended  upon  its  own  will ;  but  various  poppings 
heard  in  the  valley  made  us  shake  our  heads  with 
sadness,  when  we  thought  of  collectors  and  cockney 
sportsmen  :  "Belluce  sunt  et  feri  Molossi,  hominuui 
facie  et  habitu." 

Cuckoo.— On  the  11th  Eebruary,  1S68,  whilst  out 
for  a  ramble,  I  heard  the  Cuckoo  twice ;  my  wife 
was  with  me  at  the  time,  and  she  heard  it  as 
distinctly  as  myself.  Had  1  been  alone,  very  probably 
I  should  have  doubted  my  sense  of  hearing  ;  but  as 
we  were  both  quite  certain  of  the  sounds,  I  do  not 
see  the  possibility  of  a  mistake.  I  cannot  find  in 
my  books  that  any  note  has  been  made  of  such  an 
early  visit  to  this  country,  for  it  is  at  least  six  weeks 
sooner  than  the  Cuckoo  generally  arrives.  The  poor 
fellow  must  have  had  a  solitary  time  of  it  till  April, 
and  doubtless  moaned  often  enough  over  his  mistake 
of  setting  out  so  early  from  sunny  Africa. 

Carrion  Crow. — In  this  neighbourhood  the 
Carrion  Crow  (C'orvus  corone)  is  very  commou, 
and  during  the  hatching  season  of  chickens  and 
ducklings,  farmers  are  quite  as  much  afraid  of  the 
depredations  of  this  foul  bird,  as  of  falcons,  hawks, 
or  owls  :  the  young  of  anything  is  not  safe  from  his 
attacks,  and  sometimes  he  has  the  audacity  of 
lugging  away  half-grown  ducks  and  fowls.  One 
morniug  I  heard  a  very  loud  quacking  amongst  some 
ducks  in  the  long  grass  hard  by,  and  on  stealing 
down  behind  the  hedge  to  discover  the  cause,  found 
an  impudent  Corvus  endeavouring  to  kill  a  full- 
grown  duck.  There  were  three  ducks  in  the  field, 
and  his  modus  operandi  was  simply  to  attack  and 
find  out  the  weakest  of  the  three  :  he  would  begin 
with  number  one,  jump  on  her  back,  seize  the  neck 
in  his  beak,  and  bite  and  twist  with  all  his  might, 
Madame  Duck,  as  you  might  suppose,  making  a  great 
noise  under  the  operation ;  after  perhaps  a  couple 
of  minutes,  finding  his  worst  efforts  productive  of 
little  result,  he  would  pass  on  to  number  two  duck 
with  the  like  event ;  then  on  to  number  three,  and 
begin  again.  At  length  the  stubborn  truth  seemed 
forced  upon  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  give  up  the 
idea  of  a'  duck  breakfast ;  he  then  seemed  to  utter 
many  maledictions  upon  the  toughness  of  their 
necks,  rose  in  the  air,  discovered  me,  and  was  very 
quickly  out  of  sight. 

Rooks.— One  summer  afternoon  my  attention  was 
drawn  to  a  vast  assemblage  of  rooks  on  our  lawn  ; 
by  the  terrible  vociferations  they  were  making,  it 
was  eyident  that  something  very  unusual  was  being 
enacted,  for,  clamorous  as  these  birds  are  by  nature, 
the  noise  and  excitement  of  this  meeting  it  would  be 
almost  impossible  to  describe. 

"  C'^tait  veritablement  la  tour  de  Babylone, 
Car  chacua  y  babillait,  et  tout  du  long  de  l'aune." 


flARDWlCKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


159 


After  watching  them  some  time,  it  became  clear 
that  they  were  in  the  act  of  carrying  ont  some  pre- 
concerted punishment  upon  some  luckless  offender 
of  their  own  flock,  for  on  the  ground  was  a  black 
object  in  the  form  of  a  rook,  which  was  evidently 
being  pecked  at,  rolled  over  and  over,  and  so  passed 
on  from  rank  to  rank  of  the  assembled  multitude. 
That  it  was  not  a  mere  pastime  was  evident  from 
the  ruthless  way  in  which  feathers  were  pulled  out, 
and  continuous  blows  given.  Having  waited  about 
ten  minutes,  we  felt  a  curiosity  to  know  the  effect 
of  such  chattering  ferocity  upon  the  poor  black 
object,  aud  drew  near  to  pick  it  up.  Of  course  the 
rooks  flew  away  with  loud  cawings  as  soon  as  we 
approached ;  but,  to  our  great  astonishment,  the 
prostrate  bird  opened  its  eyes,  spread  its  ragged 
wings,  and  made  as  best  it  could  for  the  nearest 
tree.  Whether,  if  we  had  not  interfered,  the  punish- 
ment would  have  been  carried  out  usque  ad  mortem 
I  know  uot ;  but  clearly  it  was  another  good  case  to 
prove  that  the  lower  animals  are  governed  by  the 
same  principles  of  thought  and  action  as  we  are,  each 
grade  varving  only  in  its  mental  and  moral  qualities, 
in  proportion  to  the  development  of  the  nervous 
system. 

Hawks.— Pliny,  in  his  chapter  on  Hawks,  says  : 
"Alii  non  nisi  ex  terra  rapiunt  avem ;  alii  non  nisi 
circa  arbores  volitantem  ;  alii  sedentem  in  sublimi ; 
aliqui  volantem  in  aperto."  As  a  good  example  of 
the  second  method  of  seizing  prey,  I  remember  in 
April,  1SC9,  whilst  working  near  some  tall  trees,  1 
became  aware  of  an  unusual  fluttering  and  beating 
of  wings  overhead,  aud  on  looking  up  saw  that  a 
hawk,  most  probably  a  sparrow-hawk,  had  pounced 
upon  a  full-grown  pigeon,  as  strong  on  the  wing  as 
itself.  Por  about  half  a  minute  there  was  a  tussle 
and  struggle  in  mid-air,  resulting  in  the  hawk 
holding  the  back  of  the  pigeon  in  his  talons,  and 
directing  the  combined  flight  towards  a  neighbour- 
ing wood  about  half  a  mile  off;  it  was  evident  that  the 
poor  pigeon,  although  keeping  time  with  its  wings, 
was  exerting  all  its  powers  to  break  away,  for  the 
rate  of  progress  was  very  slow  indeed.  "When  they 
had  arrived  to  the  edge  of  the  wood,  I  was  greatly 
delighted  to  see  that  the  pigeon  fairly  wrenched 
itself  out  of  the  grip  of  the  hawk,  and  was  very 
quickly  dashing  past  me  to  join  the  other  pigeons, 
to  tell  her  tale  of  the  kiss  of  the  falcon's  beak.  I 
noticed  that  the  hawk  did  not  attempt  to  overtake 
the  pigeon  and  make  a  second  attack,  but  sailed  off 
in  another  direction. 

Bird  Prognostication. — People  living  in  the 
country  are  able  very  frequently  to  predict  the 
weather  of  the  morrow  by  noticing  the  living  baro- 
meters around  them.  If  gulls  leave  the  sea-coast, 
and  in  flocks  fly  inland  with  frequent  screamiugs  ;  if 
rooks  sail  about  in  large  numbers,  and  precipitate 
themselves  perpendicularly  downwards  with  noisy 
rattling  of  the  wing  and  tail-feathers  ;  if  the  green 


woodpecker  make  the  woods  resound  again  with 
his  sonorous  and  hawk-like  cry,— a  storm  of  some 
kind  is  not  very  far  off— from  my  own  observations, 
I  should  say  not  more  than  thirty  hours  distant,  often 
much  nearer  than  this ;  but  sometimes  even  forty- 
eight  hours  before  the  change  has  arrived.  The 
Pomans  knew  these  signs  as  well  as  we  do,  and 
very  possibly  it  is  a  part  of  rustic  lore  everywhere. 
"Pi?esagiunt  et  animalia.  Graculi  sero  a  pabulis 
recedentes  hiemem ;  et  albse  aves  [gulls]  in  medi- 
terranea  festinantes  cum  congregabuntur ;  et  cum 
terrestres  volucres  contra  aquam  clangores  dabunt, 
perfuudentes  sese,  sed  maxime  cornix." 

Since  living  at  Nansladrou,  I  have  noticed  that 
the  daws  and  rooks  sometimes  go  home  very  late 
to  their  roosting-places,  but  I  do  not  yet  feel  sure 
that  it  presages  a  storm ;  neither  have  I  seen  the 
rooks  perform  their  wonderful  evolutions  over 
water,  besprinkling  themselves  with  the  same  ;  but 
I  quite  believe  the  observation  would  be  correct  in 
a  lake  district ;  for  very  often  I  have  felt  astonished 
that  the  birds  have  not  dashed  themselves  in  pieces 
against  the  ground  (and  they  do  touch  sometimes), 
so  sudden  and  rapid  has  been  the  descent. 

Why  should  gulls  and  rooks,  and  probably  other 
birds,  possess  this  power  of  anticipating  changes  in 
the  weather  ?  Is  it  a  mere  electric  impression  of 
their  nervous  systems?  Or  can  it  possibly  be  a 
consequence  of  direct  vision  ?  I  rather  incline  to 
the  latter  supposition  ;  for  let  us  suppose  that  the 
approaching  storm  is  travelling  at  the  rate  of  15  or 
20  miles  an  hour,  if  the  birds  admonish  me  30  hours 
beforehand,  it  is  clear  that  they  became  cognisant 
of  it  when  still  450  or  COO  miles  away ;  is  it  too 
much  to  suppose  such  power  of  vision  existing  in 
the  eyes  of  birds  ?  I  do  not  think  any  of  my  readers 
who  have  ascended  a  high  mountain  will  find  this 
suggestion  hard  to  believe,  if  they  will  only  recall 
to  mind  the  immense  distances  they  have  themselves 
seen,  and  remember  the  high  reconnoitring  flights  of 
these  weather-wise  prophets. 

Joseph  Drew. 


MYCOLOG1CAL  ILLUSTBATIONS* 

THE  first  part  of  a  volume  of  figures  and  de- 
scriptions of  new  and  rare  Hymeuomycetous 
Eungi  is  now  before  us,  and  wc  do  not  hesitate  to 
declare  that,  Mrs.  Hussey's  excellent  figures  not- 
withstanding, these  are  the  best  figures  of  fungi 
which  have  yet  been  published  in  this  country.  It 
is  well  known  that  Mr.  Worthington  Smith  is  not 
only  an  enthusiast  in  the  collection  and  study  of 
the  larger  British  fungi,  but  a  master  in  the  art  of 

*  "Mycological  Illustrations;  being  figures  and  descrip- 
tions of  new  and  rare  Hymenomycetous  Fungi,"  Edited  by 
W.  Wilson  Saunriers,  F.R.S.;  and  Worthington  G.  Smith, 
F.L.S.,  assisted  by  A.  W.  Bennett,  M.A.,  &c.  Part  I.London  : 
Van  Voorst. 


1G0 


HAKDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


delineation.  His  large  collection  of  drawings  of 
Agarics,  and  their  allies,  is  one  of  which  any  one 
might  well  be  proud,  and  in  these  twenty-four  plates 
he  has  reproduced  some  of  these  drawings,  illus- 
trating thirty  species. 

What  a  splendid  addition  it  would  be  to  the  third 
edition  of  "  Sowerby's  English  Botany,"  just  draw- 
ing to  a  close,  if  all  the  British  fungi,  or  at  least  all 
that  do  not  require  the  use  of  the  microscope  for 
their  discrimination,  could  be  added,  in  the  style  of 
this  part.  "We  venture  to  think  that  no  one  would 
regret  paying  double  the  present  rate  of  publication 
for  the  parts  constituting  such  a  supplement.  If 
twenty-four  plates  of  flowering  plants  are  cheap 
at  five  shillings,  twelve  plates  of  fungi  would  be 
equally  appreciated  at  the  same  price,  because  there 
is  nothing  else  to  compete  with  them.  We  congra- 
tulate all  parties  concerned  in  the  production  of  this 
part,  which  we  welcome  as  a  valuable  contribution 
to  British  Cryptogamic  Botany. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Blixd-woioi  (Anguisfragilis). — Yesterday  (May 
Gth),  while  butterfly-catching  in  a  wood  iu  the 
middle  of  the  day,  I  was  suddenly  rather  startled 
by  hearing  a  scuffling  noise  among  the  dead  leaves 
a  few  feet  from  the  path.     Peering  through  the 
hazel-bushes,  1  descried  a  snake,  as  I  imagined, 
having  a  quiet  dance  to  himself — twisting,  whirling, 
aud  thrashing  the  ground  in  the  wildest  waltz  or 
the  maddest  polka.   Now  I  have  a  most  un-natural- 
istic  dislike  to  snakes  and  other  reptiles,  and  have, 
moreover,  a  strong  belief  that  adders  are  waiting  on 
each  side  of  the  path  when  I  take  a  walk,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  burying  their  poison-laden  fangs  in 
my  hapless  flesh  ;  therefore  it  required  some  little 
energy  and  pluck  to  approach  the  scene  of  not  the 
butterflies'  ball,  but  the  snakes'  polka.     However^ 
I  at  length  summoned  up  sufficient  courage  to  make 
the  attempt :  so  detaching  the  butterfly-net  from  my 
stout  walking-stick,  1  approached  the  spot,  holding 
the  stick  before  me  as  a  kind  of  going-before  hint 
to  his  snake-ship  that  if  he  imagined  I  was  afraid  of 
him  he  had  made  a  slight  mistake.     But  all  my 
bloodthirsty  preparations  might  as  well  have  been 
left  behind,  as  on  pushing  through  the  underwood 
and  keeping  at  a  most  respectful  distance,  I  saw 
not  a  snake  or  a  viper,  but  only  a  harmless  blind- 
worm,'  and  not  only  one,  but  two,  joined  together  in 
the  most  inexplicable  manner.    I  saw,  on  looking 
more  closely,  a  sight  which  upset  a  choice  little 
belief  of  mine,  and  made  me  for  the  time  a  sceptic 
on  some  other  points.     Well,  one  of  my  beliefs  pre- 
viously to  this  woodland  scene,  was  that  the  blind- 
worm,  though  often  suffering  in  character  from  the 
malignant  reports   spread  about  concerning  him, 
was    in  reality  a  very  pattern  of   herpetological 


morality.    How  vain  are  even  a  naturalist's  conclu- 
sions when  unsupported  by  fact.    Here  was  my 
even-tempered,  never-getting-out-of-temper  member 
of  the  family  Scincidce  struggling  desperately  with 
a  relation,  and,  alas  for  my  beautiful  little  theory  ! 
had  got  the  neck  of  the  other  in  its  mouth,  who  of 
course  objected  to  be  treated  in  this  disrespectful 
way,  and  the  consequence  was— a  struggle.    The 
reptiles  paid  not  the  least  attention  to  my  presence, 
and  continued  struggling  and  shaking  each  other 
with  great  pertinacity.   Knowing  that  the  creatures 
were  harmless  in  a  poison-fang-inserting  point  of 
view,   I  approached  nearer  and    endeavoured    to 
separate  them  with  my  stick;   but  not  till  I  had 
made  more  than  a  dozen  attempts  could  I  succeed, 
and  then  they  showed  no  disposition  to  fly,  stowing 
themselves  under  the  dead  leaves  close  by.    A  per- 
son who  came  up  just  as  I  had  succeeded  in  separa- 
ting them,  upset  another  part  of  my  theory  by  main- 
taining that  they  had  not  only  the  power,  but  also 
took  delight  in  burying  their  fangs  in  the  meddle- 
some legs  of  naturalists  and  other  inquisitive  beings, 
and  that  they  were  deadly  poisonous  into  the  bar- 
gain.   Thinking  that  the  sooner  I  was  out  of  such 
bad  company  the  better,  I  marched  off  aud  employed 
myself  in  the  peaceful  occupation  of  netting  azure- 
blue   butterflies,   aud  returning  with  unmitigated 
scorn    and  contempt  the  ferocious    glances  of  a 
gamekeeper  dodging  behind  a  tree  and  eyeing  my 
proceedings  with  a  "take  notice"  magisterial  air- 
Again,  alas  for  theories  !     When  I  came  to  hunt  up 
for  facts,  theories  vanished  away,  for  not  even  the 
ghost  of  a  gamekeeper  could  be  seen.    I  may  here 
remark  confidentially  to  the  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip,  that  my  friend's  theory  as  to  the  "  deadly- 
poisonous"  nature  of  the  blind- worm,  merely  existed 
in  his  imagination,  aud  was  entirely  unsupported  by 
fact.    That  it  bites  when  provoked  I  had  ocular 
demonstration,  but  that  its  bites  are  poisonous  is 
merely  a  theory.    There  are  many  people  knocking 
about  on  British  soil  who  imagine  that  everything 
— that  is,  every  living  thing— that  bears  a  resem- 
blance to  a  snake  must  as  a  matter  of  course  be 
poisonous;  but  such  an  absurd  notion  may  be  quickly 
dismissed  as  worse  than  foolish.    Not  only  snakes 
and  blind-worms  are  thus  condemned,  but  the  frogs, 
toads,  lizards,  and  newts  are  iu  most  country  places 
set  down  as  poisonous  in  the  highest  degree.    I 
have  often  been  gravely  assured  that  the  toad  spits 
fire,  and  all  my  beautiful  theories  have  been  pooh- 
poohed  most  unmercifully,  when  I  have  attempted  in 
very  able  logic  to  show  that  such  a  thing  could  not 
be,  for  very  many  excellent  reasons,  which  it  would 
be  needless  to  particularize  here.  I  wonder  (if  toads 
are  thus  gifted)  that  they  were  not  used  as  fire- 
kindlcrs  before  the  days  of  flint  and  steel  or  brim- 
stone matches.  Why,  if  toads  had  been  domesticated 
on  our  mantelpieces,  we  should  probably  never  have 
heard  of  Bryant  &  May's  safety  match,  or  even 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


161 


Mr.  Lowe's  unsafe  match  -  tax.— William  Henry 
Warner,  Kingston,  Abingdon. 

Orange  -  tip  Butterfly  (Anlhocharis  carda- 
mines). — It  will  uo  doubt  interest  some  of  your 
readers  to  know  that  I  took  ou  May  6th,  a  beauti- 
fully fresh  male  specimen  of  this  lovely  butterfly, 
which  measured  barely  an  inch  and  a  quarter  across 
the  wings,  being  little  larger  than  a  small  Heath, 
though  perfect  in  every  other  respect.  I  see  by  my 
diary  that  it  appeared  in  this  neighbourhood  this 
year  so  early  as  April  1Mb,  having  myself  seen  two 
males  gambolling  together  on  that  day.  The  Azure- 
blue  Butterfly  (Lycana  argiolus)  is  very  common 
here  this  spring.  I  noticed  in  a  wood  on  May  6th, 
dozens  of  Green  Adela  Moths  {Adela  viridella) 
fluttering  about  the  bushes  and  hovering  in  the  air, 
their  polished  metallic  wings  and  long  threadlike 
antennae  glittering  beautifully  in  the  sun.  A  dozen 
of  Oak.  Eggar  (Lasiocampa  quercus)  caterpillars  in 
my  breeding-cage  have  attained  their  full  size,  and 
are  about  to  change  into  the  chrysalis  state,  which 
I  consider  worth  noting  as  it  appears  to  me  to  be 
re markably  early.  —  William  Henry  Warner,  Kingston, 
Abingdon. 

Hooks  (p.  137).— Perhaps  it  would  further  inter- 
est some  of  your  readers  (of  the  North  at  least),  to  be 
reminded  that  accordingto  "Sykes'sLocal  Records," 
a  pair  of  crows  built  their  nest  upon  the  top  of  the 
tube  of  the  cane  on  the  Exchange  at  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne,  in  March,  17S3,  and  again  in  17S5-6-7-S,  each 
year  succeeding  in  hatching  and  rearing  their  young ; 
and,  what  is  perhaps  more  singular,  the  nest  was 
wisely  built  on  the  "windward"  side  of  the  vane, 
and  moved  round  with  it  as  the  wind  changed.  The 
same  local  authority  also  informs  us  (vol.  ii.  p.  102, 
edition  1S66)  that  for  many  years  previously  to  1S15, 
a  large  ash-tree  in  the  garden  of  the  Vicarage  (then 
in  the  middle  of  the  town,  I  suppose)  was  much 
frequented  by  rooks. —  W.  A.  C. 

ExTRAORDINAY   POSITIONS   FOR  BlRDS'  NESTS.— 

A  white-throated  wren  recently  built  its  nest  in  the 
letter-box  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  gamekeeper  at 
1  he  Links,  near  Newmarket,  and  produced  six  young 
ones.  During  its  incubation  the  old  bird  took  no 
notice  of  the  intrusion  of  the  persons  who  went  for 
the  letters  night  and  morning.  A  short  distance  from 
this  remarkable  nest  is  one  built  by  a  lark  under 
1  he  metals  on  the  line  of  railway  between  New- 
market and  Dullingham.  The  bird  is  sitting  upon 
lour  eggs,  and  takes  no  notice  of  the  thirty  trains 
which  pass  over  the  line  daily. — Bury  and  Norwich 
Post  and  Suffolk  Herald,  May  16///,  1S71. 

Otter-iiunting.  —  The  Hon.  Geoffery  Hill  has 
again  been  hunting  in  Cheshire  with  his  otter 
hounds.  On  the  ISth  of  April,  at  Capesthorne,  an 
otter  was  found,  but  lost  again ;  on  the  19th,  two 
young  otters  were  killed,  near  Over-Peover  Mill ; 


on  the  21st,  the  hounds  had  an  excellent  run  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Ashley  and  Nobberley;  on  the 
22nd,  an  otter  was  killed  at  Reed's  Mere ;  and  on 
the  24th,  another  was  found  at  Over-Peover  Mill, 
and,  after  a  hard  day,  was  killed  near  Arley  Mill. — 
G.  II.  II. 

"Bat  in  Sunshine."— Coming  down  the  river 
Test  on  a  bright  sunshiny  day,  1  saw  a  bat  flying 
about  hawking  flies  over  the  river  about  midday  ; 
some  swallows  were  doing  the  same  thing  near  him. 
—II.  L. 

Rat  Sagacity. — As  instances  of  the  caution  of 
rats  when  they,  find  themselves  watched,  take  the 
following: — One  of  my  men  on  night  duty  having 
placed  a  basket  of  grapes  in  a  warehouse  which  he 
visited  about  midnight,  was  surprised  to  find  the 
basket  full  of  rats,  neither  grapes  nor  bottom  of 
basket  to  be  seen  for  rats.  Having  nothing  to 
knock  them  over  with,  and  being  rather  startled, 
all  the  vermin  escaped.  He  retired  immediately 
without  touching  the  basket,  which  now  contained 
little  more  than  husks,  thinking  the  rats  would  soon 
return  to  the  charge  ;  but  they  proved  themselves 
quite  as  sharp  as  he  was,  for  they  returned  no  more 
to  the  basket,  which  he  peeped  at  cautiously  several 
times.  When  the  men  were  at  meals  in  the  ware- 
house, the  rats  would  pick  up  crumbs  and  fish  bones 
almost  from  between  their  feet.  "Wishing  for  a  shot 
at  some  of  them,  I  dropped  a  few  grains  of  maize 
on  the  ground,  and  took  up  my  position,  gun  in 
hand.  Soon  one  rat  bounded  across  the  space,  as  if 
in  great  alarm,  but  no  rat  touched  a  grain  of  the 
corn,  which  was  exposed  for  several  days  and  nights, 
being  at  last  crushed  and  lost  by  the  passing  of  feet 
and  goods.  Rats  were  numerous  in  the  pigsties, 
and  ate  with  the  pigs ;  one  of  which  I  turned  out  of 
her  sty,  and  contrived  a  trap-door  to  close  the 
trough  by  pulling  a  cord.  1  baited  the  trough  with 
ground  maize,  of  which  they  are  very  fond ;  but 
neither  by  day  nor  by  night  would  a  rat  venture 
there  so  long  as  the  pig  was  excluded.  Returning 
the  pig  to  the  sty,  the  rats  also  returned.  The  pig, 
after  feeding,  went  to  sleep,  leaving  the  scrapings 
for  her  friends,  which  now  made  very  free  with  the 
trough ;  and  a  girl  being  set  to  watch,  destroyed 
upwards  of  twenty  rats  in  two  days.  I  placed  a 
little  corn  in  front  of  a  hole,  thiuking  they  would 
come  out,  and  I  might  shoot  some  of  them.  Heads 
were  popped  out,  but  only  one  very  young  rat  came 
to  eat.  As  I  could  not  spare  much  time,  I  fired  at 
the  heads  to  be  seen  at  the  mouth  of  the  hole,  and, 
including  the  small  one,  found  I  had  killed  five  rats. 
—G.  S. 

Climbing  Rats.— Many  of  the  garden  paths  in 
and  near  Oporto  are  spanned  by  timber-work  for 
training  vines,  affording  an  agreeable  shade.  My 
white  grapes,  which  were  more  forward  than  the 


162 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


red,  disappeared  very  fast.  Going  out  at  night,  I 
found  many  rats  were  busy  with  my  property ;  and, 
on  being  disturbed,  most  of  them  descended  by  one 
particular  vine-stem,  and  dived  into  a  hole,  which 
was  near.  On  the  following  night,  1  armed  myself 
with  a  dark  lantern  and  walking-stick,  and  stood 
by  the  above-named  stem,  the  lantern  throwing  a 
strong  light  upon  it,  I  being  in  the  shade.  An 
assistant  drove  them  for  me,  when  they  tried  the 
favourite  means  of  descent.  1  killed  five  with  my 
stick ;  others  managing,  after  being  struck,  to  reach 
the  hole,  probably  to  die.  Several  men  beiug  em- 
ployed in  gathering  grapes,  one  of  them  found  a 
deserted  blackbird's  nest  full  of  small  rats,  which 
had  probably  taken  up  a  temporary  abode  there,  to 
be  near  their  feeding-ground.  The  rats  scampered 
off,  springing  from  vines  to  trees,  and  from  branch 
to  branch,  with  such  celerity,  that  the  men  de- 
scribed it  as  flying ;  and  though,  at  least,  four  men 
joined  in  the  chase,  not  one  rat  was  killed  out  of 
six  or  seven.  Hearing  a  sparrow  scream  one  night, 
I  saw,  by  the  help  of  my  lantern,  that  a  rat  had 
seized  a  cock-sparrow  in  a  tree,  and  was  holding 
him  in  his  mouth.  He  jumped  from  branch  to 
branch,  attempting  to  gain  the  trunk  of  the  tree, 
to  make  off;  but  being  unable  to  effect  this,  as  I 
was  too  near,  and  being  alarmed  for  his  own  safety, 
he  let  the  bird  go,  which,  probably  injured  by  the 
rat's  teeth,  fluttered  to  a  very  short  distance  to 
where  a  cat  sat  and  watched  proceedings,  having 
no  doubt  been  attracted,  like  myself,  by  his  screams. 
Tabby  immediately  picked  up  her  bird,  and  disap- 
peared down  the  garden. — G.  S. 

"Cyrena  fltjminalis." — As  this  is  the  most 
plentiful  fossil  shell  in  the  deposits  at  Erith,  con- 
taining land  and  freshwater  shells,  mostly  of  species 
now  inhabiting  the  neighbourhood,  it  seems 
curious,  out  of  all  the  numbers  met  with  in  several 
visits  to  the  brick-pits,  that  I  never  found  a  specimen 
having  both  valves  united.  Examples  of  Cyclas, 
Piscilium,  Unto,  and  Auodou,  with  the  valves  joined, 
are  pretty  frequent  in  the  sand  strata.  I  should 
like  to  have  a  recent  specimen  of  Cyrena  to  examine 
and  compare  with  the  fossils.  I  have  plenty  of  the 
latter  to  spare,  and  would  send  some  for  a  recent 
shell  of  the  species,  or  to  any  one  who  wished  for 
them.  —  Harry  Leslie,  6,  Lower  Moira  Place, 
Southampton. 

Gnats.—"  S.  S.,"  in  his  communication  on  page 
109,  on  "  Gnats  "  {Culex  pipiens),  throws  doubt  on 
lleaumer's  statement  that  the  lower  lip  or  sheath  is 
bent  like  a  bow,  when  the  proboscis  pierces  the 
skin.  Having  had  eight  years'  acquaintance  with 
mosquitoes  in  their  Paradise  in  the  Hudson's  Bay 
territory,  and  having  often  watched  the  process  on 
my  own  hand,  let  me  describe  it.  Their  attention 
need  not  be  courted.  On  the  "  Barren  Grounds  " 
of  the  Arctic  Sea,  they  sweep  down  upon  the  frantic 


traveller  in  clouds  like  smoke.  No  particular  spot 
is  chosen :  he  is  covered  and  pierced  at  all  points. 
Blacks  are,  I  think,  the  most  poisonous.  There  are 
"large  browns,"  "  small  browns,"  "greys,"  "grey 
and  brown  striped"  and  others,  as  we  say,  too 
numerous  to  mention.  But  under  more  favourable 
circumstances  than  this,  let  us  sit  quietly  and  hold 
the  back  of  the  left  hand  up  to  the  level  of  the  face, 
keeping  the  right  for  its  accustomed  duty  of  sweep- 
ing the  face  and  neck,  and  wrapping  any  other  part 
of  the  body.  A  "lady"  soon  alights  and  com- 
mences immediately  to  probe  the  ground.  A  tender 
part  being  found,  the  proboscis  is  rested  upon  it, 
while  the  legs  are  planted  firmly  and  wide  apart. 
Then  the  insertion  is  made  by  an  oscillating  motion 
of  the  head,  gradually  at  first ;  but  when  half  the 
length  of  the  proboscis  has  entered,  the  rest  soon 
disappears,  and  when  on  a  fleshy  part  rigid  up  to  the 
base.  This  is  only  for  a  moment;  it  is  immediately 
withdrawn  about  the  third  of  its  length;  and  the 
creature  is  then  seen  to  be  tilling  with  blood. 
During  this  time  the  sheath  is  bent  bade  under  the 
head  and  breast  like  an  elbow,  so  that  at  the  momen- 
tary insertion  of  the  whole  length  of  the  proboscis, 
the  two  ends  do  almost  meet.  The  insect  may 
at  this  time  be  quietly  picked  off  the  hand  by  the 
wings,  as  it  canuot  extricate  itself  in  a  moment. 
This  is  the  cause,  I  think,  of  the  extreme  irrita- 
tion of  the  puncture  on  new-comers  into  the 
country.  They  rub  and  slap  the  insect  off 
hastily,  causing  it  to  leave  the  proboscis  in  the 
wound.  Ear  more  formidable  except  in  point  of 
numbers  are  the  Tabauidse :  their  bite  is  like  the 
plunge  of  a  lancet,  producing  immediately  a  drop  of 
blood,  and  the  appearance  as  if  a  piece  of  flesh  had 
been  taken  out.  I  have  not  seen  Reaumer's  de- 
scription of  the  above  process,  so  as  independent 
testimony  it  may  be  interesting  to  your  correspon- 
dent— T.  T.  S.,  Thruxton,  Hereford. 

Tomtit's  Nest.  —  One  afternoon  last  April, 
whilst  sitting  in  the  window  of  a  room  in  the  hotel 
near  the  Sunningdale  railway  station,  which  over- 
looked the  garden,  my  attention  was  directed  to  a 
vase,  about  3  ft.  high,  with  a  long  narrow  neck,  at 
the  side  of  one  of  the  paths,  in  which  a  pair  of  tom- 
tits were  building  their  nest.  I  was  told  that 
the  birds  hud  built  and  reared  their  family  in  it 
two  years  following.  Last  year  the  position  of  the 
vase  was  altered,  but  evidently  the  change  is  not 
disapproved  of  by  the  birds.  Near  the  bottom  of  the 
vase,  in  the  side,  is  a  small  hole  just  large  enough 
for  tkel)irds  to  enter  and  leave  by,  when  the  top  of 
it  is  covered  over,  as  it  is  sometimes  during  rainy 
weather  by  the  daughters  of  the  landlord,  with  whom 
the  birds  are  great  favourites. — H.  Budge. 

Cats. — A  correspondent  of  the  Echo  estimates 
the  number  of  cats  in  the  British  isles  at  four 
millions. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


163 


BOTANY. 

Primrose   Oxlip  (p.  115).— The    example    de- 
scribed by  "  J.  B."  is,  1  think,  a  developed  primrose, 
and  not  a  hybrid  at  all;  that  is,  an  oxlip  produced 
by  development    and    not    by     hybridization.    It 
would  be  very  interesting  to  find  that  the  primrose 
and  oxlip  fertilized  each  other,  as  well  as  the  prim- 
rose and  cowslip,  as  "J.  B."  suggests;  and  I  must 
confess  I  see  no  reason  why  they  should  not  do  so. 
Still  such  examples  as  the  one  described  are,  as  far 
as  I  know,  so  much  more  frequent  in  cultivated 
primroses  than  in  wild  ones,  that  it  looks  as  if  the 
richer  nature  of  the  soil  alone  was  sufficient  to  cause 
an  exuberance  of  growth  in  the  inflorescence.   These 
developed  oxlips,  as  I  take  them  to  be,  have  nothing 
in  common  with  the  cowslip  except  the  umbellate 
inflorescence ;  whereas  all  hybrid  oxlips  partake  in 
some  degree  of  the  characters  of  each  parent,  and 
generally  smell  like  cowslips.      Two  years  ago  1 
asked,  through  the  medium  of  Science-Gossip,  some 
of  my  friends  to  supply  me  with  roots  of  the  true 
Primula  elatior  (Jacq.).     I  had  several  handsome 
consignments  sent  me.     They  grow  admirably  in 
garden,  flowering  freely,  and  are  very  ornamental, 
and  quite  distinct  from  any  other  oxlip  either  hybrid 
or  developed.     The  shape  of  the  seed-vessel  seems 
to  me  the  best  distinctive  character ;  but  the  odour 
is  also  very  peculiar,   and  rather  disagreeable,  re- 
sembling that  of  the    Starch    Hyacinth.— Robert 
Holland. 

Local  Floras. — It  occurs  to  me  that  if  some  of 
your  correspondents  would  furnish  the  titles  of  the 
various  local  Eloras  of  Great  Britain,  it  would  be 
most  acceptable  information  to  your  botanical 
readers.  Few  who  cultivate  that  delightful  science 
fail  to  travel  more  or  less  during  the  summer ;  and 
often  one  might  have  the  pleasure  of  gathering  a 
few  rare  plants,  if  furnished  with  a  local  Elora  of 
the  place  about  to  be  visited.  I  am  sorry  not  to 
be  able  to  set  a  better  example,  as  the  following 
list  contains  all  I  have  seen.  Brewer's  Elora  of 
Surrey,  1S63  ;  Dyer  and  Triuen's  Elora  of  Middle- 
sex ;  Edwin  Lees's  Botany  of  the  Malvern  Hills, 
1S52  ;  Relhan's  Elora  of  Cambridgeshire  ;  Cooper's 
Elora  Metropolitana ;  Watson's  Botanical  Guide; 
and  there  are  occasionally  lists  of  plants  in  various 
topographical  works,  as  in  Whitaker's  "  History  of 
Richmond,"  &c.  "  Watson  "  is  little  more  than  an 
outline,  and  "Cooper"  is  nearly  useless  in  the 
vicinity  of  London ;  e.  g.,  who  would  now  expect  to 
find  the  Leucojum  cestioum  in  the  Isle  of  Dogs  ?  No 
doubt,  many  more  works  of  the  kind  are  in  the 
British  Museum,  but  unless  furnished  with  the 
author's  name  it  is  difficult  to  find  any  book  there.  A 
compilation,  containing  a  classification  of  works  ac- 
cording to  subjects,  is  much  needed  in  the  British 
Museum,  as  "Watts"  is  now  quite  out  of  date.   It  is 


to  be  hoped  that  all  who  call  themselves  botanists, 
when  finding  a  rarity,  will  remember  that  useful 
adage,  "  Of  a  little  take  a  little,"  and  not  thought- 
lessly gather  ten  times  more  of  the  plant  than  is 
wanted  :  such  rather  deserve  the  name  of  "  Plant- 
haters"  than  "Plant-lovers."—//.  E.  Wilkinson, 
Penge,  S.E.,  Mag  19,  1871. 

Heartsease  {Viola  tricolor)  is  best  known  in 
Danish  by  the  name  of  stifmoder  blomst,  or  step- 
mother's flower ;  the  two  large  plain-coloured  petals 
being  supposed  to  be  the  step-daughters,  and  the 
others,  which  are  more  gay-looking,  arc  her  own 
daughters.  A  lady  friend  of  mine  who  has  been 
some  time  in  Denmark  furnished  me  with  the  above 
note  respecting  the  Heartsease.— II.  G.  IF.,  Beau- 
maris. 

Simethis  bicolor,  Kunth.  —  Has  this  rare 
denizen  of  our  island  been  found  very  recently  on 
the  "  sandy  heath,  now  planted  with  firs,  two  miles 
from  Bournemouth,  Dorset"  ?  At  the  very  end  of 
May  last,  visiting  what  I  concluded  to  be  the  right 
spot,  no  trace  of  Simethis  was  visible.  If  not  ex- 
tinct, can  any  one  who  has  found  the  plant  of  late 
give  such  directions  as  will  insure  my  success 
another  year  ?  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  the 
authors  of  new  Eloras  copy  localities  blindly,  in  the 
way  they  do,  either  from  some  older  manual,  or 
from  the  fountain-head  of  such  information,  and  the 
source  whence  botanical  borrowers  too  often  draw 
error, — the  out-of-date  localities  in  that  otherwise 
excellent  work  "  Cybele  Britannica."  These  have 
been,  and  are,  copied  year  after  year,  ad  nauseam, 
without  the  least  pretence  at  verification.  "  Take  on 
trust  from  another  what  a  little  patience  and  trouble 
would  ascertain  for  certain,"  has  come  to  be  a 
standing  rule,  as  though  the  great  work  begun  by 
H.  C.  Watson  and  other  honoured  veterans,  was  to 
suffice  for  the  present  century,  and  find  no  one 
capable  of  adding  to  and  carrying  it  on.  it  is  com- 
paratively difficult  to  prove  a  negative,  and  yet 
pretty  certain  that  in  one-half  at  least  of  the  exact 
localities  given  for  rare  plants  in  "  Cybele,"  it  would, 
to-day,  be  perfectly  useless  to  search.  The  produc- 
tion of  a  "  Local  Flora,"  too,  is,  nowadays,  a  work 
of  compilation  only:  it  is  not  considered  at  all 
necessary  for  the  author  to  be  a  practical  working 
botanist,  nor  for  him  to  contribute  one  single 
"  station  "  to  the  work  himself.  And  only  during 
the  last  day  or  two  I  have  come  across  an  instance 
in  which  the  author  of  a  local  Elora,  for  a  large 
and  important  district,  was  unable  to  recognize  at 
sight,  in  the  fresh  state,  the  order  of  a  well-marked 
ranunculaceous  plant  common  enough  in  his  own 
neighbourhood  ! — F.  A.  L. 

Tordylium  maximum,  Linn. — Can  any  one  in- 
form me  if  it  be  possible  to  obtain  a  few  seeds  of 
this  plant;  if  so,  from  whom?— F.  A.  L. 


101 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Melicerta  ringens. — In  an  article  on  "Ro- 
tifers" (S.-G.,  p.  110),  your  contributor  "E.  S.," 
speaking  of  the  Melicerta  ringens,  says  :  "It  is  not 
easy  to  trace  the  process  of  receiving,  smashing  up, 
manufacturing,  and  placing  the  pellets,  from 
beginning  to  end.  So  far  as  I  could  form  an  opinion, 
it  seemed  to  me  that  the  particles  received  through 
the  mouth  passed  at  once  to  the  gizzard  to  be 
smashed  up,  and  were  thence  conveyed  to  an  organ 
called,  I  believe,  by  Mr.  Gosse,  from  its  function, 
the 'mill,'  and  from  its  shape,  the  '  ventilator,5  to 
be  formed,  by  rapid  rotation  and  mixing  with  some 
viscid  fluid,  into  balls."  This  view  of  the  subject 
appears  to  me  entirely  to  differ  from  that  of  Mr. 
Gosse  and  other  observers  of  this  interesting  rotifer. 
Mr.  Gosse  states  clearly  that  the  particles  which 
pass  to  the  gizzard,  and  thence  into  the  stomach, 
are  quite  distinct  from  those  which  are  carried  by 
ciliary  currents  into  the  "mill,"  or  brickmaking 
organ.  He  says  that  the  latter  particles  "  swiftly 
glide  along  the  facial  surface,  following  the  irregu- 
larities of  outline  with  beautiful  precision,  dash 
round  the  projecting  chin  like  a  fleet  of  boats 
doubling  a  bold  headland,  and  lodge  themselves, 
one  after  another,  in  the  little  cup-like  receptacle 
beneath.  The  action  of  the  cilia  which  perform 
this  transport  is  clearly  seen,  and  I  believe  that 
they  are  continuous  from  the  great  sinus  to  the 
cup."  Eurther  on  he  says,  "  Some  atoms  of 
iioating  carmine  now  and  then  passed  down  the 
oesophagus  into  the  gizzard,  and  thence  into  the 
stomach ;  but  these  were  quite  independent  of,  and 
unconnected  with,  the  pellets,  which  were  composed 
exclusively  out  of  the  torreut  that  had  passed  by 
the  disk."— Trans.  Mie.  Soc,  1851,  vol.  iii.  part  ii. 
page  62.  My  own  observations  quite  agree  with 
Mr.  Gosse's  views ;  by  mixing  carmine  with  the 
water,  and  viewing  the  object,  say  with  a  power  of 
120,  and  dark  ground  illumination,  the  course  of  the 
particles  can  be  plainly  seen.  I  may  mention  that  I 
obtained  Melicerta  in  considerable  quantity  on  the 
occasion  of  the  South  London  excursion  to  Barnes 
Common,  on  April  15th.  They  were  attached  in 
large  numbers  to  the  submerged  leaves  of  the 
water  ranunculus.  By  placing  them  in  a  small 
aquarium,  1  have  succeeded  in  keeping  them  alive 
up  to  this  date  (May  15th),  and  also  in  obtaining  a 
number  of  young  Melicerta,  hatched  since  the  weed 
was  placed  in  the  aquarium.  One  great  disadvan- 
tage of  "E.  S.'s"  plan  of  observing  these  rotifers 
(by  placing  them  on  a  glass  slide,  covered  with  a 
thin  circle)  appears  to  me  to  be  that  it  is  difficult  to 
keep  the  Melicerta  alive  for  any  length  of  time.  It 
is  often  interesting  to  keep  one  individual  under 
observation  for  some  days,  and  frequent  change  of 
water  is  then  absolutely  essential.  I  have  found 
it  an  excellent  plau  to  place    the  Melicerta  in  a 


small  zoophyte  trough,  about  TV  inch  thick.  The 
rotifer  can  then  be  readily  examined  with  powers 
up  to  250  (|  inch  C),  and  when  done  with,  the 
slide  can  be  suspended  by  a  piece  of  wire  in  the 
aquarium  from  which  the  Melicerta  was  taken,  and 
there  left  until  again  required  for  observation.  This 
plan  I  have  found  to  answer  capitally,  the  Melicerta 
when  taken  out  almost  invariably  having  their  lobes 
extended,  and  the  cilia  in  full  play. — T.  G.  A. 

Scales  of  the  Gbayling  {Thymallus  vul- 
garis).— The  scale  figured  below  is  that  of  another 
of  the  British  fishes,  in  continuation  of  our  series. 
By  comparison  with  the  figures  already  given,  it 


Fig.  36.  Scale  of  Grayling:. 

will  be  seen  that  variety  is  not  exhausted,  and  we 
have  here  a  very  characteristic  scale,  sufficiently 
different  from  all  the  rest  to  secure  for  it  a  place  in 
every  good  cabinet  of  objects. 

Pollen  for  the  Microscope. — Beferring  to 
the  recommendation  for  mounting  (Science-Gossip, 
June,  1871)  of  the  pollen  of  composite  and  mal- 
vaceous  plants,  I  can  say  that  the  muricated  pollen- 
grains  and  the  scares  for  the  pollen-tubes  in  these 
plants  are  often  very  beautiful.  But  to  get  a 
knowledge  of  the  value  of  the  character  afforded  by 
the  pollen  in  the  diagnoses  of  plants,  our  observa- 
tions should  be  greatly  extended  ;  and  they  are  well 
calculated  to  afford  many  an  agreeable  and  instruc- 
tive hour  with  the  microscope,  particularly  to  ladies. 
Even  nearly  allied  plants  may,  in  several  genera, 
be  known  by  their  pollen-grains.  Thus,  in  the 
"Popular  Science  Review,"  July,  1SGS,  and  in 
Seemann's  "  Journal  of  Botany,"  Sept.  1S66,  Pro- 
fessor Gulliver  has  shown,  amoug  other  examples, 
that  the  Ranunculus  arvensis  is  readily  distinguished 
by  its  large  and  rough  pollen-grains  from  Ranunculus 
hirsutus.  Such  observations  should  be  multiplied, 
and  would  afford  an  elegant  microscopic  pursuit  for 
ladies,  who  might  thus  increase  our  knowledge  of 
good  though  minute  characters  for  systematic 
botany—  G.  G. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


165 


NOTES     AND    QUE  E  IBS. 

The    Smalt,    Eggar    (TSriogaster    lanestris).  — 
Several    solutions    to    the    question    put   by  Mr. 
Binnie  in  the  April  number  of   Science-Gossip 
(viz.,  "  Are  not,  instances  of  such  great  retardation 
unusual  ?  ")  [i.e.  of  the  emergence  of  imagos  of  the 
above  moth]  appear  in  your  last  issue.     I  may, 
from  my  own   experience,  reiterate  the  words   of 
Mr.  Livett,  on  p.  116,  viz.,  "Certainly  not.   in  this 
peculiar  species."    I  have  had  numbers  of  the  larva? 
of  this  moth,  and  have  frequently  had  to  keep  the 
pupa?  a  second,  and  even   a  third,  winter  before 
obtaining  the  nerfeet  insect.     Two  other  entomo- 
logists, whom  T  could  name,  inform  me  that  they 
have  met  with  the  same  disappointment ;  one  of 
them — an  old  and  experienced  entomologist — tells 
me  that  he  has  always  found  that  when  the  larvae 
are  taken  when  very  youmr,  they  do  not  attain  the 
imago  state  so  soon.     It  is,  T  think,  a  well-known 
fact,  that  larvse  (of  any  kind)  never  thrive  so  well 
in   confinement   as   when    under    natural    circum- 
stances; but  this  delay  in  the  development  seems 
more  freonent  in  this  particular  species  than  in  any 
other.      Why,   remains   still    to   be  solved.      Mr. 
Livett's  theorv  seems  very  feasible,  viz., — "That 
as  the  caterpillars  are  produced  very  early  in  the 
spring,  a  late   and   inclement  season  may  destroy 
their  food-plant  and  themselves,  in  which  case  the 
reserve  of  pupa?  would  prevent  the  total  destruction 
of  the  species."   I  must  again  quote  the  words  of  my 
friend.     He  also  savs  that  he  has  often  found  that 
the  larvse  of  the  Mullein  moth  (C.  verbasci).  when 
taken  youns:  and  placed  in  confinement,  do  not 
attain  the  perfect  state  the  followin?  year,  and  he 
has  often  (as  in  the  case  of  E.  lanestris)  had  to  keep 
them  through  a  second  winter  before  obtaining 
imagos;  he  consequently  abstains  from  taking  the 
larvae  (of  both  these  soecies)  until  almost  full-fed, 
in  which  case  he  obtains  from  pupae  imagos  the 
following  spring.    I  should  like  also  to  state  thatl 
have  always  experienced  a  great  "mortality"  in 
the  larva;  of  E.  lanestris  ;  I  have  always  found  that 
they  die  off  in  creat  numbers  when  almost  full-fed, 
although  provided  with  plenty  of  food  and  abun- 
dance of  room.     In  1867  I  had  400  larva;,  but  only 
a  few  reached  the  chrysalis  state;  I  also  had,  in 
1868,  several  hundred,  only  about  half  a  dozen  of 
which  changed  to  pupa?,  and  one  of  them  emerged 
in  February,  I860,  but  none  have  emerged  since. 
In  1S09  and  1870  I  was  equally  unfortunate.   I  have 
never  found  that  the  pupae  from  the  double  cocoons, 
mentioned  by  Mr.  Livett,  came  to  perfection.   I  have 
frequently  found  them   in  my  breeding-cage,  and  a 
friend  informs  me  that  he  once  had  a  large  cocoon, 
containing  three  pupae,  none  of  which  reached  the 
perfect  state.    I  should  be  glad  to  hear  the  ex- 
perience of  other  entomologists  in  the  pages  of  this 
work.— it.  Laddiman,  Norwich. 

Pansey  (p.  43). — I  have  the  following  analysis  of 
fol.  xli.  of  Bullein's  "  Buhvarke  of  Defence  asrninst 
all  Sicknes,  Sorues,  and  Woundes,"  &c.  (1562). 
"  What  is  the  goodnesse  of  paunsis,  or  three  faces 
in  on  hodde  ?  Some  call  it  hartesease ; "  then  a 
monkish  legend  as  to  its  being  called  herba  Trini- 
tatis.  At  the  end  of  the  article  it  is  written 
"paunses."  I  may  here  mention  that  on  fol.  vii. 
he  says,  "sorrell"  is  called  in  the  north  "sour 
dockens;"  on  fol.  xlv.  he  calls  geranium  "  shep- 
herdes  nedell,"  and  of  herb  Robert  he  says,  "  but 
rather  I  take  it  to  be  called  Rubertam  a  rubro 
colore,  to  an  herb  of  a  red  colour."    On  fol.  xxxix. 


an  amusing  passage   (if  my  memory  serves  me) 
on  Beeis.—R.  T.,  M.A. 

Cleaning  Skeletons.— T  have  been  told  that 
the  best  way  to  get  a  small  skeleton  well  cleaned  is 
to  bury  the  animal,  after  taking  off  the  skin,  in  an 
ant-hill.  I  have  tried  this  in  a  large  hill  of  very 
powerful  ants,  and  find  the  thin  bones  eaten  awav 
so  as  to  spoil  the  skeleton.  Then  I  put  a  mole's 
head  into  a  nest  of  small  reddish  ants,  and  they 
pay  no  attention  to  it.  Can  any  one  tell  me 
whether  one  kind  of  ant  is  better  than  another  for 
this  purpose,  and  also  what  time  of  year  is  the 
best  ? — L.  Gillson. 

Water-Snake  (p.  142).— Surely  the  animal  in- 
tended must  be  a  species  of  Gordius,  otherwise 
called  a  Hair-worm,  some  account  of  which  will  be 
found  in  Science-Gossip,  1865,  p.  107.  The  usual 
length  of  the  only  species  I  know  (Aquations)  is 
much  less  than  that  given;  still  I  should  imairine  it 
may  vary,  or  these  other  species  may  exceed  this  in 
size.  The  superstition  regardins  the  transformation 
of  hairs  into  worms  is  very  old,  and  has  credence 
yet  in  English  counties  as  well  as  in  Welsh  ;  and  is 
easily  explained  through  the  similarity  of  the 
objects  of  it.  A  curious  reference  to  an  individual 
of  this  kind  occurs  in  a  letter  of  the  poet  Cowper's, 
written  to  his  friend  Hurdis,  where  he  savs: — 
"  After  a  very  rainy  day,  I  saw  on  one  of  the  flower 
borders  what  seemed  to  be  a  lorn?  hair,  but  it  had  a 
waving,  twining  motion.  Considering  more  nearly, 
I  found  it  alive,  and  endued  with  spontaneity,  but 
could  not  discover  at  the  ends  of  it  either  head  or 
tail,  or  any  distinction  of  parts.  I  carried  it  into  the 
house,  when  the  air  of  a  warm  room  dried  and 
killed  it  presently."—/.  R.  S.  Clifford, 

Shower  oe  Insects. — A  paragraph   went  the 
"round  of  the  papers"  a  few  weeks  back,  to  the 
effect  that  a  storm  of  insects  fell  in  the  Midland 
Railway-station  at  Bath,  and  that  a  large  number 
remained  on  the  platform,  and  were  examined  by 
scientific  men  during  the  day.    The  insects  are  de- 
scribed as  descending  in  the  form  of  a  glutinous 
drop,  about  the  size  of  a  large  pea,  and  many  of 
them  soon  developed   into   a  worm-like   chrysalis, 
about  an  inch  long.    The  Dorset  Count)/  Chronicle 
contained  this  information  on  April  27,  and  the 
following  week  its  readers  were  apprised  of  a  most 
violent  storm  on  the  previous  Saturday.      "The 
storm  was  accompanied  by  a  similar  phenomenon 
to  that  of  the  previous  Sunday;  myriads  of  small 
annelidcp,  enclosed  in  patches  of  gelatinous  sub- 
stance, falling  with  the  rain  and  covering  the  ground. 
These  have    been  microscopically  examined,   and 
show,  under  a  powerful  lens,  animals  with  barrel- 
formed  bodies,  the  motion  of  the  viscera  in  which  is 
perfectly  visible,  with  locust-shaped  heads  bearing 
long  antenna?,  and  with  pectoral  and  caudal  fin-like 
feet.     They  are  each  an    inch  and  a  half  long. 
Scientific  men  pronounce  them  to  be  marine  insects, 
probably  caught  up  into  the  clouds  by  a  waterspout 
in  the  Bristol  Channel."    A  correspondent  of  the 
Shepton  Mallet  Journal  (May  5)  writes :  "  Having 
had  my  attention  called  to  the  specimens  of  insects 
that  fell  on   Saturday,  I  have  carefully  examined 
them,  and  find  that  they  are  the  larva?  of  the  gnat, 
which,  by  the  high  wind  prevailing  on  Saturday, 
musthave  been  lifted  from  the  surface  of  the  adjoin- 
ing river  and  deposited  on  the  platform."    Can  any 
reader  inform  me  which  account  is  correct,  as  each 
appears  to  me  to  contradict  the  other? — W.Mac- 
millan,  Castle  Cary,  Somerset. 


]GG 


HARDWICKE'S    S  CI  EN  C  E- GOSSIP. 


The  Ascent  or  Man.— Once  upon  a  time,  that 
is  somewhere  about  the  year  1400,  there  lived  in 
Gilaw,  near  the  Caspian  Sea,  a  Muhammadan  saint, 
called  Mahmud,  whose  ideas  respecting  the  Creation 
appear  to  have  been  entirely  Darwinian.  Perhaps 
the  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls  is  a 
correct  one,  and  our  present  Darwin  may  have  been 
the  Mahmud  of  the  past— the  curious  old  prior  who 
lived  in  the  days  of  Timur,  and  who  was  persecuted 
by  the  Persian  government  as  an  arch-heretic.  I 
have  been  reading  a  short  article,  taken  from  an 
Eastern  publication,  respecting  this  Caspian  saint, 
and  it  may,  perhaps,  interest  your  readers  to  know 
that  his  idea  of  the  Creation  was  as  follows  :— 
"NuJctah  ikhak"  (an  atom  of  earth)  underwent 
numberless  changes  :  first  of  all  it  spread  abroad  in 
the  form  of  plants ;  these  plants  became  animals ; 
and  they  in  time  developed  into  a  distinct  species— 
a  sort  of  advance  upon  the  brute  kind,  something 
very  much  like  a  gorilla,  but  far  inferior  to  man  as 
lie  was  in  Mahmud's  time ;  for  he  modestly  states 
that  gorilla-man,  after  throwing  off  various  imper- 
fections during  successive  generations,  reached  its 
perfection— " the  human  form  divine"— in  his  oavu 
person.  A  few  of  Mahmud's  followers  came  to 
India  in  the  16th  century,  so  his  opinions  must  have 
gained  ground  in  some  minds.—//.  Watney. 

The  Lotus. — A  correspondent  recently  inquired 
if  there  is  evidence  of  the  use  of  the  Lotus  in 
India  at  all  analogous  to  its  use  or  adoption  in 
Egypt ;  this  was  stated  to  be  the  case  in  India 
and  also  in  Assyria  {see  Science-Gossip,  No.  66, 
p.  124 ;  No.  73,  p.  19).  My  object  in  writing  now, 
is  to  add  that,  the  Lotus  is  figured  on  the  plaster 
cast  of  the  Sanchi  Tope  gateway,  on  view  at  the 
International  Exhibition ;  the  date  assigned  to  it  is 
about  coeval  with  the  commencement  of  the  Chris- 
tian era.  It  may  be  noted  that  many  characteristics 
of  the  ornamentation  of  this  Buddhistic  structure 
are  very  decidedly  Assyrian.— A.  H. 

Tritons— In  reply  to  "E.  Halse,"  in  Science- 
Gossir  for  the  last  month  (May),  I  beg  to  refer  him 
to  a  paper  contained  in  the  "Annals  and  Magazine 
of  Natural  History"  for  December,  1S53,  by  John 
Higginbottom,  E.R.S.,  of  Nottingham,  which  will 
give  him  every  information  he  may  require  respect- 
ing the  British  Tritons. — S.  II. 

Eisii  in  the  Jordan.— "  H.  C.  S.  S."  would  be 
glad  if  any  one  would  kindly  give  some  information 
as  to  the  'kind  of  fish  found  in  the  river  Jordan. 
He  cannot  find  the  names  mentioned  anywhere,  but 
many  works  say  that  the  river  abounds  in  fish.— 
June  5th,  1871. 

Earth-worm.— Mr.  Soombridge  gives  the  fol- 
lowing prescription  for  the  destruction  of  earth- 
worms. "  Mix  a  small  quantity  of  corrosive  sub- 
limate (about  half  a  gill  to  an  ordinary-sized  water- 
ing-pot will  be  sufficient),  and  well  saturate  the  lawn 
or  path."  1  beg  to  state  that  corrosive  sublimate 
is  a  solid  crystallized  body,  but,  not  a  liquid.  Mr.  E. 
Winder  suggests  another  formula  containing  the 
above  sab,  viz.,  "loz.  of  corrosive  sublimate 
dissolved  in  2  oz.  of  hydrochloric  acid,  one  or  two 
tablespoonfuls  to  be  added  to  the  canful  of  water." 
I  would,  however,  recommend  that  in  place  of 
hydrochloric  acid,  a  solution  of  sal  ammoniac  be 
employed  to  dissolve  the  very  sparingly  soluble 
sublimate,  loz.  of  each  of  the  above  sails  will  make 
about  12  gallons  of  a  saturating  solution  when  dis- 
solved in  water,  which  is  perfectly  innoxious  to 
plants.— 72.  C.  Smith,  M.I). 


The  Pursuit  oe  Science  under  Difficulties. 
— I  had  for  some  time  looked  with  lonGcina:  eyes  on 
the  undisturbed  serenity  of  a  small  pond  visible  from 
the  elevated  platform  of  a  certain  railway  station  in 
the  outskirts  of  the  metropolis  ;  for  "having  ranged 
and    searched    a     thousand     nooks "     along     the 
banks  of  "silver-breasted  Thames,"  this  particular 
pond  offered  itself  in  my  estimation  a  bonne  bouche 
not  to  be  disregarded,  and,  "accoutred  as  I  was" 
with  collecting-case  and  stick,  and  fortified  with  a 
polite  note  explainin?  the  object  of  my  desire,  J 
duly  presented  myself  at  the  door  of  the  mansion  of 
the  lady  occupier  and  proprietress  of  the  domain, 
who  at  once,  to  my  surprise  and  amusement,  stated 
her  determination  not  to  accede  to  my  request  in 
the  following  courteous  terms : — "  No ;  not  if  I  know 
it.     I  s'pose  it  is  you  and  the  likes  of  you  as  breaks 
my    fences !     I  should  like  to  catch  you   at    it. 
There's  plenty  of  ponds  and  puddles  about  Wands- 
worth Common  and  Tooting  Common ;  why  don't 
you  go  there?    No!  young  man,  I  shall  set  my 
gardener  to  keep  a  watch  ;  go  about  your  business." 
I  went  about  my  business,  and  was  immeasurably 
amused  to  watch  from  the  same  platform  for  several 
succeeding  mornings,  the  precautionary  measures 
undertaken  at  the  direction  of  this  intellectual  and 
'amiable  lady  for  the  protection  of  her  property, 
which  consisted  in  depositing  some  loads  of  lime- 
dust  around  the  banks  of  the  pond  in  question,  and 
in  erecting  an  expensive  wood  fencing  between  her 
own  and  the  grounds  adjoining. — Charles  Cubitt. 

Sirex  juvencds. — In  Science-Gossip  for  Nov., 
1S70,  I  inserted  a  question  on  the  occurrence  of 
Sirex  juvencus  in  England,  commonly  or  otherwise  ; 
no  answer  to  which  having  been  received,  1  again 
ask,  will  any  entomologist  acquainted  with  the 
Hymenoptera  kindly  give  me  the  desired  infor- 
mation?— W.  Chaney. 

Violets. — I  planted  some  pure  white  violets 
last  year,  but  am  astonished  to  see  them  come  up 
this  spring  in  blue  (deep).  I  am  at,  a  loss  to  see 
why  this  is,  as  no  other  plants  were  near,  nor  even 
in  the  neighbourhood. — H.  W.  H. 

Borax  and  Cockroaches. — In  Hardwicke's 
Science-Gossip  for  this  month  (May),  at  page  117, 
it  is  stated  that  borax  is  certain  death  to  cock- 
roaches. The  paragraph  is  taken  from  the  "  Journal 
of  Applied  Science,"  the  back  numbers  of  which  I 
have  not  got,  to  refer  to.  I  have  thrown  pow- 
dered borax  over  cockroaches  without  its  producing 
the  smallest  effect  on  them,  or  even  making  them 
move.  The  Growler  is  over-run  with  cock- 
roaches, and  I  should  be  much  obliged  to  any  one 
who  would  tell  me  how  to  set  rid  of  them.  The 
only  thing  I  have  found  efficacious  has  been  car- 
bolic acid  diluted,  and  squirted  into  the  holes  and 
corners  they  frequent ;  but  this  has  the  disadvantage 
of  spoiling  paint  and  furniture.  What^  is  really 
wanted  is  some  poisonous  and  seductive  food.  All 
I  have  tried  has  utterly  failed.— Edmund  II.  Vemey. 

Queries,  G.  J.  W -Your  inquirer,  "  G.  J.  W.," 
will  find  his  queries  Nos.  1  and  7  discussed  m 
Lindley's  "  Elements  of  Botany,"  also  in  Hunt's 
"  Poetry  of  Science."  Experiments  demonstrating 
the  effects  of  sunshine  upon  combustible  matter,  by 
Professor  Tomlinson,  are  referred  to  m  "Popular 
Science  Review  "  for  October,  1S70.  Having  great 
doubts  in  the  matter  of  borax  being  obnoxious  to 
the  common  cockroach,  I  threw  a  quantity  of  the 
powder  upon  one  placed  in  a  gallipot.    It  lived  lor 


HARDWICKE'S    S;C  IE  N  CE-GO  S  SIP. 


167 


six  days.  This  fact  shows  how  little  dependence 
can  be  placed  in  the  efficacy  of  the  remedy. — Henry 
J.  Bacon. 

Stove  for  Conservatory. — Can  any  of  your 
readers  recommend  me  to  a  very  small  "portable" 
stove  ?  Some  years  since  I  read  in  one  of  the  scien- 
tific journals,  that  if  a  "stone  jar  painted  black" 
and  filled  with  hot  water  at  night,  were  placed  in  a 
room  with  tender  exotics,  sufficient  heat  would  be 
radiated  to  obviate  the  effects  of  frost  for  twelve 
hours.  It  failed  in  my  hands,  the  jar  becoming- 
cold  in  a  little  more  than  an  hour. — S.  //. 

Age  of  Geese. — As  to  the  age  geese  may  live, 
raised  by  one  of  your  correspondents,  a  tradition 
exists  in  the  north  that  they  may  live  to  be  a  hun- 
dred years  of  age.  The  following,  written  thirty 
years  ago,  refers  to  the  prevalent  idea. 

"  Good  Mrs.  Nixon  had  been  told, 

That  geese  a  hundred  years  might  live, 
The  fact  appeared  so  strange  and  bold, 
She  scarcely  could  the  thing  believe. 

"  But,  exclaimed  this  wife  of  sense, 
'  I'll  soon  the  information  try, 
I'll  buy  one,  'twont  be  much  expense, 
And  then  I'll  see  if  it's  a  lie.'  " 

—J.  Brittain. 

Cockchafers. — Can  any  of  your  correspondents 
inform  me  how  long  the  common  Cockchafer 
{Melolontha  vulgaris)  remains  in  the  larva  state  ? 
Early  last  April  I  turned  out  of  an  old  vegetable- 
marrow  bed  a  considerable  number  of  what  I 
imagined  to  be  the  larva;  of  this  or  some  other  lamel- 
licorn  coleoptera.  They  were  thick,  fleshy,  cream- 
coloured  grubs,  about  an  inch  in  length,  possessing 
six  short-jointed  feet,  and  having  the  hinder  part  of 
the  body  bent  down  so  as  nearly  to  approach  a  dis- 
tinct head,  in  which  position  they  remained,  though 
exposed  some  time  to  a  hot  sun.  All  these  larva; 
were  full-fed,  and  apparently  ready  to  undergo  their 
metamorphosis,  and  were  found  at  various  depths  in 
the  soil ;  but  I  could  not  discover  the  rude  cocoons 
in  which  they  enclose  themselves  prior  to  their  last 
transformation.  Last  year  my  garden  was  visited  by 
great  numbers  of  the  Rosechafer  {Cetonia  aurata), 
but  I  know  not  how  to  distinguish  the  larva  of  this 
beetle,  or  that  of  the  Summer  "Dor"  (Risotrogus 
solstitialis)  from  the  larva  of  the  large  Cockchafer. 
The  time  of  the  appearance  of  rhese  chafers  I  know 
is  very  uncertain,  but  the  sun-loving  Cetonia  was 
on  the  wing  early  in  May,  1870,  when  it  ruthlessly 
destroyed  the  blossoms  of  theWeigalia,  the  Syringa, 
and  white  peony  weeks  before  their  favourite  food, 
the  roses,  came  into  bloom.  I  have  seen  but  one 
Cetonia  this  year,  which  I  took  on  the  9th  of  this 
mouth  (June).  This  beetle  I  -find  is  particularly  fond 
of  the  "early  white  pink,  tearing  its  petals  to  atoms 
with  its  curved  mandibles  and  hooked  feet.  Do 
any  of  the  above  beetles  afford  that  irritant  and  still 
imperfectly-known  substance  which  has  the  effect 
of  raising  blisters  upon  the  human  skin,  like  the 
Lytta  vesicatoria  of  Spain, 'the  Meloe  triantherna  of 
India,  or  the  Mylabris  variabilis  of  China;  or  is  it 
known  whether  the  larvae  of  these  insects  supply  in 
any  remarkable  degree  vesicating  properties?  Some 
of  the  British  Meloe  do  possess  the  blistering  prin- 
ciple. A  relative  who  has  just  returned  from  Zurich 
tells  me  that  "this  town  has  a  periodical  visitation 
of  cockchafers,  or,  as  the  people  call  them,  moi- 
caefers.  These  insects  return  in  such  quantities 
every  four  years  that  there  is  a  special  law  made  to 
destroy  them.    Every  gardener  is  expected  to  bring 


his  peck  of  those  he  has  destroyed,  and  they  who 
bring  above  a  certain  quantity  receive  a  reward. 
You  cannot  walk  under  the  chestnut-trees  without 
treading  upon  many  of  these  beetles,  or  seeing  the 
effect  of  their  ravages  overhead.  The  people  say 
in  Zurich  that  the  insect  in  its  two  previous  stages 
occupies  nearly  three  years,  and  then  takes  wings  and 
its  destructive  shape.  It  used  to  be  a  pleasant 
thing  for  boys  to  hunt  cockchafers,  but  I  never 
dreamt  of  their  becoming  like  the  plague  of  locusts. 
In  the  cemetery  where  our  late  lamented  relative  is 
buried,  I  saw  a  tomb,  on  which  at  the  foot  was  re- 
presented a  caterpillar,  above  it  was  the  same  insect 
in  the  larva  state,  and  finally  it  was  assuming  the 
win^s  of  a  butterfly  and  taking  flight  upwards,  an 
allegory  as  full  of  meaning  as  that  on  a  Roman  tomb, 
where  a  ship  is  represented  furling  her  sails  and 
entering  her  haven."— Hen ry  Moses,  Reading. 

Primroses  changing  Colour  (pp.  133  and 
134). — I  have  heard  of  both  primroses  and  cowslips 
turning  pink  or  crimson,  when  manured  with  cow- 
dung  ;  and  am  told  of  a  case  in  which  the  same 
thing  occurred  on  transplanting  yellow  specimens 
from  the  fields  to  a  garden  ;  where  the  soil  would 
doubtless  be  richer.— G.H.H. 

To  Destroy  Worms.— Take  a  large  tub,   say 

half  a  hogshead.   Put  into  it  the  third  of  a  bushel  of 

fre?h-burnt  lime.     Slake  the  lime  by  pouring  on  it 

a  small  quantity  of  water.   When  the  lime  is  slaked, 

fill  up  the  tub  with  water;  stir  up  the  lime  well  two 

i   or  three  times  a  day,  for  two  or  three  days ;  then 

j  let  it  stand  perfectly  still :  the  lime  will  subside  to 

the  bottom  of  the  tub,  and  the  water  will  become 

quite  clear,  of  a  bluish  colour.   In  the  middle  of  the 

day,  when  the  sun  is  shining  bright,  take  this  clear 

water  in  a  watering-can  with  arose  on  it,  water  the 

part  on  which  you  wish  to  destroy  the  worms.    In  a 

,   few  minutes  they  will  come  to  the  surface  and  the 

!   sun  will  destroy  them.—/.  B.  Gainford. 

Water- Snakes.  —  In  the  June  number  of 
Science-Gossip,  your  correspondent,  "  W.  C.  P." 
writes  thus  from  Whitebrook,  near  Monmouth  : — 
"Water-Snakes. — There  is  a  sort  oifsh  (1  suppose) 
found  in  springs  here  ;  it  is  about  a  foot  or  fifteen 
inches  long,  and  about  as  thick  as  a  stout  horse-hair, 
called  here  a  water-snake."  This  is  the  hair-worm, 
a  curious  creature,  of  which  the  exact  place  in  sys- 
tematic zoology  has  hardly  yet  been  determined,  the 
Gordius  aquations  of  Linnaeus.  By  systematists  it 
is  usually  put  near  to,  or  with,  the  round  intestinal 
worms  of  man  and  lower  vertebrates.  The  early 
period  of  its  life  is  passed  parasitically  in  insects, 
from  which  it  escapes,  and  becomes  free  in  streams 
and  pools  of  fresh  water.  Unlike  intestinal  worms, 
it  has  no  posterior  or  anal  opening.  The  sexes  of 
Gordius  are  distinct;  the  tail  of  the  male  forked  or 
bifid,  that  of  the  female  only  rounded.  Any  observa- 
tions of  the  structure  and  development  of  this 
curious  creature  would  be  interesting  to  zoologists. 
— G.  G. 

A  Budget  of  Queries  in  your  June  number 
is  not  without  interest.  Query  4,  "  On  the  change 
of  colour  in  certain  animals  in  winter,"  your  cor- 
respondent will  find  answered  very  scientifically  in 
the  late  Dr.  Davy's  "Physiological  Researches," 
8vo.  1863,  wherein  is  a  chapter,  xxxix.,  treating 
of  the  question  of  the  sudden  change  of  colour  in  the 
hair,  and  the  whitening  of  the  clothing  of  mammals 
and  birds  in  winter. — G.  G. 


1G3 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


E.  L. — We  hart  no  solution  to  offer. 

J.  B.— The  Italian  fungus-stone  is  mentioned  by  Dr.  Bad- 
ham,  and  you  give  no  additional  information. 

M.  D.  P.  wants  to  know  of  any  other  birds  (except  pigeons) 
that  feed  their  young  in  the  same  manner  as  the  canary. 

B.  W.  P.— Probably  a  boraginaceous  plant,  but  we  should 
not  attempt  to  name  it  from  a  fragment  of  a  leaf. 

H.  M.-We  have  already  given  instructions  for  cleaning 
diatoms,  in  early  volumes  of  S.-G.  No.  I  is  Coleosporium 
pingue.    No.  2.  Junta  rubens. 

W.  G.— The  injects  on  bark  are  Adelges  corticulis,  often 
very  injurious  to  pine-trees. 

S.  h.— We  make  it  a  rule  not  to  recommend  any  particular 
tradesman  or  firm.  Your  first  query  you  will  find  answered 
in  treatises  on  bleaching.  We  do  not  remember  who  is  the 
publisher  of  "  Solly's  Analysis  of  Plants." 

H.  A.— -Lots  of  white  mice. 

J.  H.— You  will  find  some  communications  on  the  spider 
swallowing  its  web  in  our  first  volume. 

E.  G.—  Undoubtedly  the  plants  spring  up  from  dormant 
seeds,  which  may  vegetate  alter  being  buried  very  many 
years. 

H.  C.  H. — Vaceinium  vitis  idma.  Theother  subject  is  wholly 
a  matter  of  taste,  for  which  no  law  can  be  given. 

J.  B.  D.  will  find  Cooke's  "  Manual  of  Structural  Botany" 
(one  shilling),  and  "Manual  of  Botanic  Terms"  (half  a 
crown),  published  by  Hardwicke,  192,  Piccadilly,  just  what 
he  asks  for. 

r.  G.— No  manual  of  Coleoptera  has  been  published  since 
Stephens's,  which  is  very  much  out  of  date. 

H.  A.  S.— Not  a  fern  at  all,  but  a  fungus  on  leaf  of  betony, 
Puccinia  Bet'micte. 

W.  A.  C— The  address  being  given,  you  had  better  apply 
direct,  as  we  object  to  advertising  prices. 

E.  L.  (Hull).— Use  dammar  dissolved  in  benzole  in  the 
same  way  as  Canada  balsam  is  used.  Experience  will  test 
its  advantages.  We  always  use  it  in  preference  to  balsam,  as 
no  heat  is  required,  and  it  soon  becomes  hard. 

A.  R.  G.  inquires  for  a  Field  Club  in  S.W.  London,  for 
Kingston,  Wimbledon,  and  the  neighbourhood.  We  know  of 
none. 

W.  G.— The  Uredo  on  rose  is  not  the  common  rose-rust, 
but  apparently  Coleosporium  pingue. 

W.  W.  H.— The  hairs  from  the  stipes  of  an  exotic  fern,  pro- 
bably a  Cibotium. 

W.  C.  P. — We  cannot  answer  your  question.  The  means 
were  at  your  hands,  by  examining  microscopically,  or  testing 
the  water,  to  discover  the  cause. 

J.  H.— S<  iknck-Gossip  is  now  generally  ready  two  or  three 
d*ys  before  the  first  of  the  month. 

G.  D. — We  do  not  remember  any  detailed  account  of  the 
/hemical  and  physiological  effects  of  viper  poison  except  in 
"  Christisou  on  Poisons." 

F.  G.  complains  that  borax  will  not  destroy  cockroaches. 
Similar  testimony  is  given  in  the  present  number.  Beetles 
are  insects,  of  course,  and  thequestion,  "  Do  insects  grow?  " 
was  discussed  in  an  early  volume  of  S.-G. 

R.  H.  W.— We  know  of  no  work  containing  the  desired  in- 
formation on  dry  rot.  Several  communications  are  scattered 
through  the  volumes  of  the  "  Gardener's  Chronicle." 

W.  D.  R.-We  should  think  that  Grindon's  "  British  and 
Garden  Botany "  (Routledge),  or  Bentham's  "Handbook  of 
the  English  Flora"  (Reeve),  would  suit  you. 

Miss  G.— The  insect  is  a  water  mite:  it  belongs  to  Acarini 
and  the  genus  Hydrachne ;  the  growth  on  Vulimeria  is  Con- 
ferva. 

J.  S.— It  is  Trichobasis  compositarum ;  the  fly  is  Chrysis 
ignita. 

W.  D.  R.— No.  1  is  Php  Hob  ins  argentatus,  Linn.;  No.  2  is 
Sitnnes  lineatus,  Linn. — E.  C.  R. 

H.  M.— Possibly  a  new  volume  on  insects  published  by 
Lovell  Reeve  &  Co.  It  is  difficult  to  recommend  a  small 
volume  for  such  a  wide  range  of  subjects. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.— Only  one  "  Exchange '"  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britain)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  HUtory  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

British  and  FoRKir.N.land,  freshwater, and  marine  shells 
for  foreign  land  or  freshwater  ditto,  or  Tertiary  fossils. — 
G.  S.  T.,  58,  Villa  Road,  Handsworth,  Staffordshire. 

Sections  op  Rush,  showing  stellate  tissue  (see  Davies), 
skin  of  frog.  &c,  unmounted,  for  other  good  objects  and 
stamp.  — C.  D  ,  187,  Oxford  Street,  Mile  Enu,  E. 

British  Plants  (dried)  for  exchange.— J.  H.  L.,  180,  Mill 
.Street,  Liverpool. 


For  Palates  of  Neritina  fluniati/is  and  Puludina  mvipara 
(unmounted)  send  stamp  and  objects  of  interest  to  H.  M.  J 
Underhill,  7,  High  Street,  Oxford. 

Sertularia  operculata.— Send  stamped  envelope  to 
F.  S.,  16,  Crooked-lane,  London  Bridge,  E.C.  (Any  micro- 
scopic object  or  material  acceptable.) 

Carboniferous  Fossils  for  Comnclla  Itevis,  Smooth 
Snake  or  Zuotncu  vimpara,  the  Common  Lizard.  —  l1'.  R. 
Stephenson,  Salterheble,  Halifax. 

Potentili.a  rupestris,  P.  fruticosa,  Drabri  ai:oides, 
Euphorbia  pilosa,  Dianthus  caesius,  &c,  for  other  rare  plants. 
— W.  Todd,  2,  Blundell  Place,  Leeds. 

Leaf  Fungi,  Lichens,  &c.  (unmounted),  for  objects  of 
interest  unmounted.— H.  D.,  Claremont  House,  Waterloo, 
Liverpool. 

An  American  entomologist,  who  has  made  lepidoptera  a 
speciality,  would  like  to  correspond  and  exchange  with  an 
English  gentleman  interested  in  that  order.  Please  address 
K.  K.,  care  of  E.  K.  Butler,  Esq.,  6S,  Pearl- street,  Boston, 
Mass.,  U.S. 

Wanted  Veronica  verna  for  V.  triphyllos,  and  Dianthus 
deltoides  for  Dianthus  ctesius.— Mrs.  C.  F.  White,  42,  Windsor 
Road,  Ealing. 

Rev.  J.  Hanson,  1 1 ,  Bagby  Square.  Leeds  (late  of  Elmwood- 
street)  offers  Ichneumon  gregurinus  for  microscopic  material. 

Spicules,  cleaned,  of  Pachytisma  Johnsonii,  four-pronged 
sponge,  Synapta  inhterens,  Tethea  Lyncuriam,  and  coloured 
Gorgonia  offered  for  other  spicules  or  material.— C.  E.  Osboru. 
23,  Albert  Road,  Upper  Holloway,  London,  N. 

Jutland  Deposit.— Slides  of  Diatoms  from  Mors  (coarse 
and  fine)  offered  for  first-class  slides  of  other  objects,  especially 
entomological.— M.  M.,  care  of  Editor. 

Dutch  Shad  Scales  prepared  for  mounting.  Send  stamped 
envelope.— J.  H.  M..  17,  Walham  Grove,  St.  John's,  Fulham. 

Wanted,  Nos.  17,  47,  93,  2(53,  289,  302,  307,  483,  491,  6s6. 
700,  873,  1044*,  1064,  1092,  1242,  1251*,  London  Catalogue  of 
Plants,  for  149,  313,  326,  677,  965,  &c— F.  A.  Lees,  Mean- 
wood,  Leeds. 

Zoophytes. — Various  species  well  mounted  in  balsam  for 
other  good  named  slides.— Address  E.  Ward,  9,  Howard 
Street,  Coventry. 


BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

"  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,"  for  June,  1871 . 

"Journal  of  Applied  Science,"  for  June,  1871. 

"The  Alleged  Historical  Difficulties  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,''  by  Rev.  G.  Rawlinson,  M.A.  London:  Hodder 
&  Stoughton. 

"  Positivism  :  a  Lecture  delivered  in  Connection  with  the 
Christian  Evidence  Society."  by  Rev.  W.  Jackson,  M.A.,  F.S.A. 
London  :    Hodder  ft  Stoughton. 

"  The  Canadian  Entomologist."     No.  12.     Dec.,  1870. 

"  Botanical  Notes,"  by  D.  A.  P.  Watt.  Reprinted  from  the 
"  Canadian  Naturalist." 

"Tne  Animal  World."  for  June,  18/1 . 

"  Canadian  Entomologist."     Vol.  III.,  No.  1.     April,  1871- 

"The  American  Naturalist."     June,  1871. 

"Proceedings  and  Communications  of  the  Essex  Institute." 
Vol.  VI.,  Part  2.     1868-71.     Salem,  Mass.,  U.S. 

"Descriptions  of  some  new  or  little-known  Oaks  from 
N.W.  America."  By  Robert  Brown,  of  Campster,  M.A.,  &c. 
Reprinted  lrom  "  Annals  of  Nat.  Hist.,"  April,  1871. 

"  On  the  Physics  of  Arctic  Ice  as  Explanatory  of  the  Glacial 
Remains  in  Scotland."  Bv  Robert  Brown,  of  Campster,  M.A. 
&c.  Reprinted  from  "  Quart.  Journ.  Geol.  Soc,"  February, 
1871. 

"  Land  and  Water."     Nos.  280.  281.  282,283. 

"Mycological  Illustrations:  being  Figures  and  Descriptions 
of  new  and  rare  Hymennmycetous  Fungi."  Edited  by  W.  W. 
Saunders,  F.R.S.,  and  W.  G.  Smith,  F.L.S.,  assisted  by  A.  W. 
Bennett,  M.A.,  F.L.S.     Part  1.     Van  Voorst. 

"  List  of  Coleoptera  collected  by  J.  K.  Lord,  Esq.,  in  Egypt, 
&c,  with  Characters  of  Undescribed  Species."  By  Francis 
Walker,  F\L.S.     London:  Janson. 

"  The  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,"  for  May,  1871. 


Communications  Received.— G.  R.  — E.  H.  V.— H. 
W  W.  H.— E  L— B.  W.  P.-W.  A.  C— M.  Q.  M.  C— T. 
—  G.  D.— J.  S.  T.-.I.  H.-W.  C  F.— C  S.  K.-W. 
H.E.W.— R.  3.  H.— H.  A.  S.-F.  W.-J.  H.-S.  H.-H. 
J.  D.— J.  H.— H.  L.— A.  R.  G.— H.  D.— R.  C  S.-C. 
W.  C— C.  F.  W.-K.  K.— H.  C.  S.  S— C.  E.  O.— S. 
H.  C.  S.— H.  M.-H.  E.  W.—J.  H.  M.-T.  G.  D.— E, 
G.  R.  D.— W.  E.  S.-E.  L.  R.— H.  M.  J.  U.— W.  D.  R.- 
Jun.-F.  S.-G.  II.  B.-F.  A.  L.-H.  A.-J.  B.  D.— H. 
II.  J.  B.-R.  G.-C.  A.-F.  B.-W.  T  -B.  W.  F.-S.  P. 
— C.  J.  D.— G.  H.  H.-J.  B.  G.— J.  H.  L— G.  G.— H.  C. 
F.  R.  S.— R.  G.— G.  S.  T.-J.  H.— G. 


D.— 
T.  S. 
G.— 
W.— 
C— 
H.— 
,  S.— 
J.  s., 

M.— 

H.  B. 

H.— 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


1G9 


THE     TE  AWL. 


By  MAJOR  HOLLAND. 


My  soul  is  full  of  longing 


For  the  Secret  of  the  Sea, 

And  the  heart  of  the  great  ocean 

Sends  a  thrilling  pulse  through  me." 


EADER,  do  these 
words  of  Longfellow 
come  home  to  you  ? 
does  any  responsive 
chord  in  your  own 
heart  vibrate  in  sympathy  with 
the  spirit  of  the  poet  who  has 
drawn  a  flood  of  inspiration 
from  Nature's  fountain,  and 
penned  many  a  deep  lesson  for 
us  ?  Another  great  spirit,  one 
^  that  has  lately  left  us,  a  strong 
and  resolute  yet  tender  and 
>4h.  sensitive  soul,  that  wore  in  this 
life  the  outward  mask  of  a 
hard  -  lined  deeply  -  furrowed 
face,  told  us,  with  all  the  ex- 
quisite delicacy  of  its  gentle 
pathos,  how  the  wild  waves 
ever  talked  to  little  Paul  Dombey,  whispering  to 
the  wondering  heart  of  the  fast-failing  child,  of  that 
unknown  and  unfathomable  ocean  upon  whose 
eternal  bosom  his  tiny  skiff  was  to  be  launched  so 
early.  Reader,  do  the  deep  mysterious  tones  of  the 
grand  utterances  of  the  great  deep  ever  speak  to 
You?  Open  wide  the  ears  of  your  understanding 
and\listen  reverently  when  you  are  all  alone  with 
the  mighty  Sea,  and  mayhap  you  will  one  day  catch 
an  inkling  of  the  divine  secret  it  is  ever  striving  to 
reveal. 

Of  all  the  31,465,480  true  Britons  reckoned  up 
in  the  census  of  April,  1871,  how  many  individual 
units  have  ever  passed  even  one  entire  clay  and 
night  of  twenty-four  hours  under  the  open  sky 
alone  with  Nature?  It  is  not  a  very  marvellous 
feat  to  perform,  yet  it  is  a  very  uncommon  one. 
We  are  indebted  to  the  humorous  pencil  of  Leach 
for  a  sketch  of  a  languid  gentleman  who,  pining  for 
No.  80. 


a  new  sensation,  is  trying  the  effect  of  riding  up 
and  down  the  Strand,  seated  on  the  roof  of  an 
omnibus  and  picking  out  periwinkles  with  a  pin. 
Should  you  ever  feel  as  though  you  had  exhausted 
all  the  resources  of  the  civilized  portions  of  the 
globe,  do  not  seek  for  distraction  in  boiled  cockles 
or  in  pickled  whelks,  but  take  a  railway  rug  and  a 
stout  stick,  a  pipe,  and  a  moderate  provision  of  meat 
and  drink,  and  get  away  to  the  top  of  a  hill,  with 
woods  and  streams,  and  smiling  fields  dotted  with 
farmsteads  and  villages  spread  before  your  feet,  and 
there  rest  in  solitude  and  wait  on  Nature,  and  listen 
and  watch  for  all  that  she  will  do  and  say  in  earth, 
air,  and  sky,  and  for  all  that  her  offspring  will  do 
above,  below,  and  around  you  while  this  teeming 
planet  turns  once  around  its  axis.  Then  seek  a 
similar  communion  with  the  Sea;  study  it  from 
even-fall  to  broad  daylight  from  the  top  of  some 
lone  unfrequented  cliff;  or  better  still,  commit  your- 
self to  the  heaving  bosom  of  the  great  waters,  and 
unless  your  soul  be  blind  and  deaf,  you  shall  learn 
things  never  dreamt  of  before  in  your  philosophy. 
Words  cannot  convey  it,  "  The  Secret  of  the  Sea  " 
must  be  sought  after  by  each  one  for  himself. 

But  let  us  first  pass  a  night  together ;  off  the 
coast,  in  one  of  the  toiling  striving  solitary  smacks 
that  fight  single  combats  with  the  billows  and 
wrestle  with  the  winds,  and  struggle  on  in  cold  aud 
rain,  and  gloom  and  fog,  all  through  the  lonesome 
hours  of  the  dark  night,  to  win  from  the  gravel-beds 
and  shingle-banks,  from  sandy  spits  and  parks  of 
sea-grass,  and  from  the  mud  and  ooze  deep  down 
beneath  the  keel,  the  brown  soles  whose  savoury 
filets  will  smoke  on  our  breakfast  -  tables  in  the 
morning,  and  the  crimson  lobsters  and  the  glossy 
pink  prawns  for  the  cool  salads  of  these  hot  dog- 
days,  and  a  score  or  two  of  other  welcome  luxuries, 
dearly  won  for  us  by  hard  horny  hands  and  honest 

i 


170 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


aching  backs  (sometimes,  alas !  with  aching  hearts) 
while  we  have  been  softly  nestled  on  our  pillows. 

Come  and  let  us  see  what  we  can  find  on  the  feed- 
ing-grounds of  Davy  Jones's  domain,  down  on  the 
sea-bed. 

In  September,  1869,  we  found  a  goodly  store  of 
life  "Under  the  Seaweed,"  in  a  matted  flake  of 
stranded  rubbish  cast  up  upon  the  beach ;  and  in 
the  same  month  of  last  year  we  skimmed  the  smooth 
surface  of  the  Solent  on  a  still  night  with  "  The 
Towing-net,"  and  took  more  than  anybody  could 
describe  in  a  fortnight.  Now  let  us  try  whether  with 
"The  Trawl"  we  cannot  bring  to  light  some  of  the 
many  living  things  that  dwell  deeper  down  in  the 
same  well-known  inner  sea.  & 


beam,  and  skid  along  the  bottom ;  tbe  upper  edge 
of  the  mouth  of  the  net  is  fastened  to  the  beam,  the 
lower  lip  of  the  net  is  fastened  to  the  ground-rope, 
a  strong  rope  covered  with  green  hide  and  weighted 
with  leaden  plummets  to  keep  it  dragging  along 
the  bottom ;  its  two  ends  are  fastened  to  the  lower 
and  hinder  end  of  the  beads;  thus  the  upper  lip 
projects  some  two  feet  above  and  in  advance  of  the 
ground-rope,  which  is  the  first  thing  to  alarm  the 
fish  at  the  bottom.  If  the  latter  rise,  as  they  nearly 
always  do,  they  are  stopped  by  the  overhanging 
upper  lip,  and  the  speed  of  the  vessel  soon  sweeps 
them  into  the  belly  and  cob  of  the  net. 

At  Portsmouth  and  Gosport,  and  in  every  port 
and  haven  from  which  fishermen  put  to  sea,  there 


Fig.  87.  The  Trawl. 


In  this  figure,  a  denotes  the  iron  "  head,"  b  the 
warp,  e  the  guy,  d  the  trawl-beam,  e  the  trawl-warp- 
block,/  the  ground  or  bottom-rope,  g  the  seizing  or 
lashing  of  the  cob,  h  the  belly  of  the  net,  i  to  g  the 
cob :  the  cob  or  end  of  the  bag  of  the  net  has  a 
wide  opening,  through  which  the  contents  are  taken 


are  respectable  men  to  be  found  with  smacks 
equipped  with  every  requisite,"who  will  take  people 
out  with  them  for  a  very  moderate  charge,  at  a  few 
hours'  notice.  And  now  while  our  trawl  is  gathering 
a  great  draught  for  us,  let  us  consider  for  a  few 
minutes  the  nature  of  Pishes  in  general. 


Fig.  8S.  Skeleton  of  the  Perch. 


out ;  it  is  kept  closed  by  the  lashing  or  seizing. 
There  are  many  patterns  and  sizes  of  trawls ;  this 
is  a  small  one,  a  prawn  trawl,  about  seven  feet  wide 
at  the  mouth,  and  fifteen  feet  in  length,  and  is 
worked  from  a  half-decked  cutter-rigged  craft  of 
twelve  tons ;  the  "  heads"  are  two  heavy  iron  plates 
which  form  a  sort  of  sledge-runners  to  support  the 


The  skeleton  of  the  Perch  is  inserted  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  have  never  examined  the  bony 
framework  of  a  fish,  and  who  may  be  unacquainted 
with  the  names  of  certain  parts  thereof  which  we 
shall  frequently  have  to  mention;  to  those  who 
wish  to  go  further  into  the  subject,  we  recommend 
"Owen's    Hunterian    Lectures,  vol.  ii.   part   I. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


171 


Pishes,"  or  bis  more  recent  and  costly  work  on 
Comparative  Anatomy.  In  fig.  88,  a  marks  the 
inter-maxillary  bone,  which  forms  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  border  of  the  upper  jaw ;  b,  the  maxillary 
bone  ;  c,  the  mandibular  bone,  or  lower  jaw ;  d,  the 
cavity  for  the  eye ;  e,  the  inter-parietal  bone ;  /,  the 
inter-operculum,— "  this  bone  furnishes  an  attach- 
ment to  the  branch  of  the  hyoid  bone,  at  the  point 
where  it  is  itself  attached  to  the  styloid,  which 
suspends  it  on  the  temporal  bone;  hence  the  oper- 
cular shutters  caunot  open  or  close  without  a  cor- 
responding movement  of  the  hyoidean  arches  ",:  the 
curved,  serrated  bone  seen  immediately  above  it,  is 
the  pre-operculum,  to  the  right  of  which  is  the 
large  triangular  operculum,  with  the  sub-operculum 
below  it ;  these  four  opercular  bones  form  the 
framework  of  the  outer  gill-covers  :  g  g,  the  verte- 
bral column  ;  h,  the  pectoral  fin ;  i,  the  ventral  fin  ; 
Jc,  the  first,  and  I  the  second,  dorsal  fin;  m,  the 
anal  fin ;  n,  the  caudal  fin. 

The  Fishes  are  the  lowest  class  of  the  Vertebrate 
division  of  the  Animal  Kingdom  ;  the  construction 
of  their  cerebral  system  and  every  part  of  their 
economy  indicates  their  inferiority  to  Reptiles, 
Birds,  and  Mammals.  Their  blood  is  red,  but  they 
are  "  cold-blooded."  Every  one  has  heard  of  Hum- 
boldt's Volcano-fish  found  living  in  water  at  210° ; 
and  we  have  ourselves  taken  Siluroid  fishes  from 
one  of  the  hot  springs  in  Carson  Valley,  at  the  foot 
of  the  eastern  slopes  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  the 
water  of  which  threw  up  clouds  of  steam,  and 
almost  scalded  the  hand ;  the  temperature  of  the 
bodies  of  these  particular  examples  must  of  neces- 
sity have  been  exceedingly  high ;  nevertheless, 
Pishes  are  essentially  "  cold-blooded."  The  sight 
of  some  of  the  freshwater  tribes  is  both  quick  and 
keen ;  hence  the  nicest  dexterity  of  manipulation  is 
indispensable  in  tying  a  fly  for  trout.  The  eyes  of 
the  mackerel  and  of  most  of  the  marine  genera 
seem  to  be  equally  quick,  but  far  less  discriminating ; 
and  we  see  them  captured  wholesale  with  hooks 
unbaited,  but  made  attractive  by  clumsy  lures  of 
glittering  bits  of  glass  or  metal,  or  strips  of  bright- 
coloured  cloth,  or  by  a  tuft  of  white  feathers  trail- 
ing astern  of  a  boat  in  motion;  and  it  is  no 
uncommon  thing  for  them  to  take  an  entirely  naked 
hook  as  it  flashes  through  the  water.  The  popular 
notion  that  they  are  deaf  is  altogether  erroneous ; 
their  hearing  is  probably  dull,  but  from  the  humble 
auditory  apparatus  of  the  lampreys,  through  an 
ever  ascending  gradation  of  organization  up  to  the 
sharks  and  sturgeons,  all  are  provided  with  a  me- 
chanism of  varying  degrees  of  perfection,  adapted 
for  the  reception  and  transmission  of  sonorous 
vibrations. 

What  shall  we  find  in  the  first  haul  ?  The  strain 
upon  our  expectant  curiosity  is  almost  more  than 
we  can  endure.  "What  will  there  be  in  the  net?" 
"Do  you  think  there  is  anything  in  it  by  this 


time?"  We  can't  wait  any  longer;  so  let  us  clap 
on  to  the  trawl-warp  and  rouse  it  in.  Here  come 
the  iron  heads  ;  now  get  well  hold  of  both  ends  of 
the  beam  while  the  man  takes  in  the  slack  of  the 


warp;  give  a     one,' 


two, 


:  three  !  "  and  in 


comes  the  heavy  framework  over  the  quarter ; 
gather  in  the  ground-rope ;  gently  now,  with  that 
great  conglomerate  bolus  of  fish  and  shells,  and  sea- 
weeds and  rubbish,  and  nobody  knows  what  ;— 
gather  in  carefully,  and  don't  tear  the  meshes ;  land 
the  whole  concern  in  the  stern-sheets,  which  are 
decked  over  and  fitted  with  "  cants,"— i.  e.,  with  high 
sills,  to  keep  the  ooze  and  slush  from  running  all 
over  the  place.  Cast  off  the  seizing  of  the  cob, 
and  shake  out  the  treasures. 

"Look  out,  sir !  look  out !  here  be  a  Sting-fish  ; 
dont-ee  touch  un ;  mind  your  hands,  sir,  he  be 
awful  pisen!"  Let  us  follow  the  mate's  advice, 
and  before  precipitating  ourselves  frantically  upon 
that  kicking,  jumping,  flapping,  wriggling  heap  of 
sea-life  before  us,  let  us  carefully  "  eliminate  "  this 
innocent-looking,  but  really  dangerous  customer — 
Trachinus  vipera,  the  Lesser  Weever,  Otter-Pike 
or  Sting-fish. 


m 

.SHE 

1 


Fig.  89.  The  Lesser  Weever  {Trachinus  vipera),  i  mat.  size. 

He  is  a  a  wicked  rascal ;  he  lies  still  until  some- 
thing comes  well  within  his  reach,  and  then  bounds 
up  and  strikes  furiously,  driving  the  strong,  sharp, 
penetrating  spines  of  that  terrible  little  "  first 
dorsal "  deep  into  the  hands  of  the  unwary.  The 
idea  that  the  swelling  and  inflammation  of  the  arm, 
that  often  supervenes  after  receiving  one  of  his 
well-delivered  hits  is  produced  by  "  pisen,"  was  for 
a  long  time  ridiculed.  The  following  footnote  to  a 
paper  by  Dr.  Giinther,  in  "Annals  and  Magazine  of 
Nat.  Hist.,"  p.  45S,  vol.  xiv.,  a.d.  1864,  may  tend 
to  convince  the  sceptics  that  the  fishermen  are 
right  after  all :— "  Dr.  J.  E.  Gray  has  directed  my 
attention  to  a  paper  by  Mr.  Byerly  in  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society  of 
Liverpool,  Nov.  5, 1849,  p.  156.  In  this  paper  Mr. 
Byerly  demonstrates  in  the  most  convincing  man- 
ner, that  the  double-grooved  opercular  and  dorsal 
spines  of  the  Weevers  are  poison-  organs.  Although 
the  structure  of  the  spines,  with  their  external 
grooves,  were  known  to  previous  writers,  it  is  Mr. 
Byerly's  merit  to  have  shown  the  presence  of  a 
cavity  within  the  substance  of  the  spines,  which  is 
the  proper  depository  of  the  poison  before  its  ejec- 
tion."   Here  the  learned  Doctor  takes  exception  to 

I  2 


172 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


some  matters  of  detail,  but  concludes  with, — 
"  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  poison 
apparatus  of  Trachinus  is  homologous  with  that  of 
Thalassophryne,  only  in  the  latter  it  is  developed  to 
as  great  a  perfection  as  in  the  fang  of  the  viper." 
He  is  of  a  peculiar  light  yellow-grey,  dashed  with 
a  reddish  tinge  about  the  back,  the  lower  parts 
being  much  lighter,  and  gradually  passing  into 
white ;  the  fins  are  brown,  the  caudal  being  edged 
with  black,  and  the  first  dorsal  webbed  with  a  jet- 
black  membrane,  which  happily  presents  a  decided 
means  of  instantaneous  identification.  He  is  one 
of  the  Perch  family,  an  uncomfortable  set  to  handle ; 
it  is  as  well  to  remember  that  they  are  called  Acan- 
thopterygii  (aKavdog,  a  spine,  and  irrepvyiov,  a  fin), 
from  the  stiff  spines  which  constitute  the  first  rays 
of  the  dorsal  fin.     . 

The  "Great  Weever,"  or  " Sting-Bull,"— the 
"  Sea-Cat "  of  the  coast  of  Sussex,— is  a  very  much 
larger  fish :  "  its  food  is  the  fry  of  other  fishes,  and 
its  flesh  is  excellent";  nevertheless,  it  is  generally 
thrown  overboard  as  worthless;  and  if  it  thus 
escapes  with  life,  it  lives  only  to  destroy  the  more 
valuable  sorts. 

What  is  all  this  loud  chorus  of  croaking  and 
smacking  of  lips,  suggestive  of  the  second  plague 
of  Egypt  combined  with  a  lot  of  greedy  snobiculi 
let  loose  upon  strawberries  -  and-cream  ?  These 
sounds  are  all  produced  by  the  sucking  and  gasping 
of  the  wide-gaping  mouths  and  labouring  gills  of  a 
couple  of  dozen  of  spiny  horny-headed  prisoners. 
Lift  that  one  up  by  the  tail,  or  rather  by  the  caudal 
fin ;  formidable  and  forbidding  as  his  appearance 
is,  he  cannot  jump  and  strike  like  the  harmless- 
looking  Weever ; — this  is  Coitus  bubalis,  the  Long- 
spined  Father-lasher ;  the  boys  often  call  it  the 
"Bull-head,"  confounding  it  either  with  the  true 
saltwater  "Bull-head,"  or  with  the  freshwater 
species  of  that  name,  alias  the  Miller's-thumb.  The 
French  call  these  croakers,  Grogneurs,  Coqs-de-mer, 
and  Coqs-bruyans  ;  the  Germans  call  them  See-murre, 
or  Sea-grumblers.  Fisherfolk  in  the  Mediterranean 
once  had  a  belief  that  their  hoarse  notes  foretold 
dirty  weather :  "  ils  repeient  ce  bruit  a  l'approche 
des  tempetes." 

Cottus  will  live  for  an  hour  or  two  out  of  the 
water,  not  because  he  has  wide  gills,  but  because 
he  is  a  ground  fish  ;  "  the  surface-swimmers,  with  a 
high  standard  of  respiration,  a  low  degree  of  mus- 
cular irritability,  and  a  great  necessity  for  oxygen, 
die  almost  immediately  when  taken  out  of  the 
water,  and  have  flesh  prone  to  rapid  decomposition : 
on  the  contrary,  those  fish  that  live  near  the  bot- 
tom have  a  low  standard  of  respiration,  a  high 
degree  of  muscular  irritability,  and  less  necessity 
for  oxygen;  they  sustain  life  long  after  they  are 
taken  out  of  the  water,  and  their  flesh  remains 
good  for  several  days :  carp,  tench,  eels,  the  dif- 
ferent sorts  of  skate,  and  all  the  flat-fish  may  be 


quoted."  Now  this  tenacity  of  life  in  the  Cottus, 
the  Weever,  and  a  dozen  others  like  them,  is,  com- 
bined with  our  stupid  way  of  dealing  with  them,  a 
commercial  calamity  ;  for  while  the  young  of  most 
of  the  valuable  food-fishes  die  almost  immediately 
they  are  taken  out  of  the  water,  and,  unless  of 
marketable  size,  are  thrown  overboard  dead,  and 
wasted,  these  voracious  poachers,  regarded  as  un- 
clean by  the  people  of  our  islands,  are  thrown  back 
alive  into  the  sea  to  destroy  by  the  million  the  fry 
of  their  betters. 

We  are  wrong  in  treating  the  Cottus  as  a  worth- 
less thing.  "  In  Greenland  it  attains  a  large  size, 
and  is  in  such  great  request,  that  it  forms  the 
principal  food  of  the  natives  :  the  soup  made  from 
it  is  said  to  be  agreeable  as  well  as  wholesome." 
Caught  by  the  score  at  every  <c  heave "  of  the 
trawl,  and  by  hundreds  of  tons  in  the  course  of  the 
year,  yet  never  eaten  in  this  densely-peopled 
country,  where  meat  is  so  sadly  dear  and  there  are 
so  many  half-filled  and  all  but  empty  mouths ; 
caught  by  millions,  and  good  for  food,  yet  put  back 
into  the  sea  as  useless  ;  our  ignorance  or  prejudice 
combining  with  their  natural  tenacity  of  life  to 
preserve  them  only  to  do  mischief.  Here  is  a 
blunder  in  our  piscine  economy  to  be  put  to  rights. 
It  is  said  that  once  upon  a  time  the  good  people  of 
Looe,  down  in  Cornwall,  ate  all  their  rats  to  make 
sure  of  getting  rid  of  them  ;  and  quite  recently  the 
abominable  grubs  of  the  cockchafer,  the  arch-pest 
of  French  horticulture,  became  a  fashionable  dish 
in  la  belle  France.  We  do  not  envy  the  west- 
country  folk  their  rat  pies,  and  we  are  content  to 
leave  Parisian  gourmands  to  feast  alone  upon  vers 
blancs;  but  here  we  have  a  clean-feeding  fish,  "agree- 
able as  well  as  wholesome,"  which,  together  with  a 
dozen  other  kinds  at  present  wasted,  and  worse 
than  wasted,  might  be  converted  into  nutritious 
soups  and  stews,  or  such  savoury  compounds  as 
Thackeray  found  in  a  snug  restauraut  in  the  "  Rae- 
neitve  des  Petits-champs." 

"  This  Bouillabaisse  a  noble  dish  is, 
A  sort  of  soup,  or  broth,  or  brew, 
Or  hotchpotch  of  all  sorts  of  fishes, 
That  Greenwich  never  could  outdo ; 
Green  herbs,  red  peppers,  mussels,  saffern, 
Soles,  onions,  garlic,  roach,  and  dace  ; 
All  these  you  eat  at  Terre's  tavern, 
In  that  one  dish  of  Bouillabaisse." 

Here  is  another  of  the  same  race,  with  shorter 
spines  about  the  head,  and  three  hooklike  recurved 
spines  on  the  snout;  the  body  is  octagonal  and 
covered  by  eight  rows  of  strong  plates  ;  the  chin  is 
furnished  with  several  minute  cirrhi.  This  is  a  mail 
clad  Cottus,  the  "  Armed  Bull-head,"  "  Pogge,"  or 
"  Sea-poacher."  The  scientific  name  seems  to  be  a 
corruption  of  a(nr1Sr}-(p6poQ,  shield-bearing.  "Its  flesh 
is  good  and  firm,"  but  prejudice  rejects  it  as  unfit  for 
food,  and  reckless  ignorance  preserves  it  to  poach 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


173 


upon  the  young  prawns  and  other  "merchantable" 
things  which  are  diminishing  in  an  alarming  manner 
with  each  succeeding  year  ;  everybody  is  crying  out 
about  the  awl'ul  price  of  oysters  and  prawns  and  all 


It  has  been  suggested,  rather  than  asserted,  that 
by  means  of  this  peculiar  compound  hollow  fin  the 
Rock-Goby  can  attach  itself  to  rocks  in  a  vertical 
position,  on  the  vacuum  principle.   This  particular 


Fig.  90.  The  Armed  Bull-head,  or  Po^ge  {Aspido/ihorus  Euvopmus) 


other  sea  food,  but  nobody  stops  the  wanton  mis- 
chief that  makes  the  scarcity. 

Here  is  a  Rock-Goby,  Gobius  niger,  the  largest  and 
rarest  of  the  eight  species  of  the  Goby  tribe  which 
have  been  described  and  classed  as  British.   A  speci- 
men which  we  captured  on  the  Horse  shoal  lived  and 
thrived    in  the  aquarium  for  seven  months.    Al- 
though a  veritable  niger,  he  was  not  by  any  means 
black,  or  even  dark,  nor  did  he  turn   black  when 
irritated  or  excited.    Observation  has  convinced  us 
that  many  aquatic  creatures,  especially  when  young, 
vary  so  immensely  in  their  colour  and  general  out- 
ward appearance  in  different  localities,  that  they 
can    only    be    distinguished    and    identified    with 
certainty  by  a  careful  examination.     Our  prisoner 
was  of  a  light  yellowish-brown,  and  mottled  about 
the  back  with  a  darker  brown,  with  a  few  purplish 
spots  on  the  dorsals  and  a  row  of  greenish-brown 
marks  along  the  median  line  :  no  doubt  his  coat  was 
adapted  to  the  colour  of  the  gravelly  bed  on  which 
he  dwelt ;  perhaps  if  his  lot  had  been  cast  upon  a 
blue-clay  bottom,  he  would  have  assumed  a  more 
Ethiopian  hue.     He  was  very  wild  and  shy,  hiding 
for  weeks  together  behind  stones  and  weeds;  he 
would  dash  out  savagely  at  a  morsel  of  meat,  and 
dart  back  again  to  his  lair  like  a  flash  of  lightning. 
These  movements  were  executed  so  rapidly  that  the 
eye  scarcely  received  any  distinct  impression  of  the 
animal  itself, — a  streak  of  light  and  a  disastrous  up- 
setting of  miniature  groves  and  grottos,  and  a  whirl- 
ing about  of  the  bits  of  rubbish  stirred  up  from  the 
bottom,  were  the  indications  of  one  of  his  hungry 
raids.     The  ventral  fins  are  arranged  in  a  very  re- 
markable manner,  being  united  together  by  their 
anterior  and  posterior  edges ;  the  pair  thus  form- 
ing a  kind  of  oblique  infundibulum,  the  so  -  called 
"  sucking-fin,"  which  is  not  very  easy  to  describe, 
but  may   perhaps  be  understood  on  referring   to 
fig.  91,  where  it  is  well  shown.  We  took  the  idea  of 
this  figure  from  Yarrell,  but  it  has  been  drawn  to 
life  size,  from  one  of  our  own  specimens. 


specimen  never  made  any  such  use  of  it ;  he  invari- 
ably grovelled  on  the  bottom  ventre  a  terre,  as  flat 
as  a  flounder.  A  small  and  very  tame  successor  who 
is  at  present  our  guest,  swims  about  freely.  The 
spiny  sticklebacks,  though  nearly  twice  his  size, 


Fig-.  91.  The  Rock-Goby  {Gobius  niger).    Ventral  aspect. 

have  a  great  respect  for  him  ;  he  has  no  hesitation 
in  charging  straight  into  the  middle  of  half  a  dozen 
of  them  and  taking  away  apiece  of  meat  which  they 
are  quarrelling  about.  After  watching  him  daily  for 
weeks  and  weeks,  we  began  to  feel  sure  that  the 
idea  put  forward  in  a  doubting  sort  of  way  by 
Montagu  and  others  about  the  Goby's  habit  of  ad- 
hering to  plane  surfaces  by  the  "  sucking-fin  "  was 
a  myth ;  when  behold,  at  last,  we  found  him  most 
unmistakably  affixed  by  the  said  contrivance  to  the 
smooth  side  of  the  polished  plate-glass  of  his  house- 
of-detention,  where  we  had  ample  opportunity  of 
scrutinizing  his  united  ventrals  with  a  pocket  lens. 
It  required  some  little  force  to  remove  him  from  his 
hold  with  a  netting-needle.  We  have  no  longer  any 
doubt  on  the  point  ourselves  ;  and  it  has  been  satis- 
factory to  find,  on  rummaging  amongst  the  heaps 
of  valuable  odds  and  ends  in  the  back  numbers 
of  Science-Gossip,  that  another  correspondent 
(page  42,  Feb.  1865)  is  equally  certain.  We  expect 
shortly  a  deposit  of  eggs  by  the  prisoner's  wife,  and 


171 


H-ARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GO  S  S 1  P. 


it  will  be  interesting  to  observe  whether  he  will  be 
as  chivalrous  as  the  representatives  of  his  race 
spoken  of  in  the  paper  to  which  we  have  alluded. 
These  conjoined  ventrals  appear  to  be  quiescent 
when  their  proprietor  is  swimming  horizontally, 
but  they  are  in  great  requisition  when,  by  a 
succession  of  upward  leaps,  reminding  one  of 
the  rising  lark,  he  brings  himself  to  the  surface 
of  the  water:  on  these  occasions  they  seem 
to  be  sharply  contracted  and  flattened  in,  so  as  to 
throw  a  little  column  of  water  downwards. 

The  Blennies,  Gobies,  and  Dragonets,  though 
placed  in  the  same  family,  Gobiadce,  by  some  writers, 
are  really  three  distinct  groups.  These  can  never  be 
mistaken  for  each  other  by  anybody  versed  in  ichthy- 
ology ;  but  as  we  gossip  for  the  young,  and  for  those 
who  are  not  blessed  with  extensive  libraries,  and  as 
both  Gobies  and  Blennies  are  commonly  found  to- 
gether in  the  same  tidepool,  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
point  out  their  distinctive  characteristics.  The 
Gobies  may  be  known  at  once  by  the  union  of  the 
ventral  fins,  and  they  have  two  distinct  dorsals; 
while  the  Blennies  have  but  one  dorsal.  This  being 
bilobate  in  some  species,  may  be  mistaken  for  two 
by  people  who  are  not  given  to  close  observation. 
The  ventrals  are  free,  and  of  very  unimportant  di- 
mensions, "formed  of  two  rays  only,"  and  placed 
close  up  to  the  throat,  in  front  of  the  pectorals,  they 
look  like  a  clergyman's  bands,  and  are  mere  ap- 
pendages. The  pectorals  are  largely  developed,  and 
they  climb  and  hop  and  walk  with  them  (if  one 
may  thus  apply  the  expression)  in  an  awkward 
jerking  manner.  The  pectorals  of  the  fish  are  the 
homologues  of  the  arms  of  man,  and  the  ventrals  of 
the  class  Pisces  bear  the  same  relation  to  the  legs 
of  Homo.  A  few  years  ago  a  poor  afflicted  specimen 
of  the  latter  genus,  a  Cul-de-jatte  with  an  imploring 
pain-wearied  face,  haunted  (and  perhaps  still 
haunts)  the  sunny  side  of  Regent  Street :  unable  to 
swim,  he  compared  disadvantageously  with  his 
aquatic  analogue ;  but  his  terrestrial  locomotion  was 
performed  like  that  of  the  mud-scuffling  fish ; 
he  was  a  human  blenny,  and  propelled  himself  over 
the  muddy  stones  by  means  of  his  strong  arms,  his 
well-developed  pectorals ;  while  his  withered  legs, 
weak  ventrals,  "  of  two  rays  only,"  hung  powerless 
and  useless  in  front  of  him,  as  "  mere  appendages." 


Fig.  92.  The  Blenny. 

The  name  Blenny  is  an  old  one ;  we  find  it  in 
Aristotle,  and  the  meaning  of  fiXivvoi;  is  slime  or 
mucus.  The  same  fish  is  called  by  another  Greek 
writer  the  fiXiwos  or  fiauov—  from  the  latter  word 


its  French  name   [Baveuse)  is    probably  derived. 
Our  own  Blenny  (fig.  92),  recently  deceased,  was 
unlike  any  we  have  seen  described  anywhere;  he 
was  of  an  olive-green  on  the  back,  with  blue  shades 
here  and  there,  and  bright  white  spots,  and  he  had 
gorgeous  spots  on  his  fins  :  he  was  something  like 
Montagu's  Blenny,  but  the  crest  wras  wanting ;  and 
he  certainly  was  not  a  "shanny":  he  was  a  very 
friendly,  sociable  little  fellow,  and  lived  in  peace 
with  the  prawns  and  sticklebacks ;  the  slightest  tap 
on  the  glass  would  bring  him  forth,  and  he  would 
follow  the  finger  about  and  take  food  from  the  hand. 
He  was  exceedingly  sensitive  to  the  vibrations  of 
stringed  instruments ;  the  softest  note  of  a  violin 
threw  him  into  a  state  of  agitation,  and  a  harsh 
scrape  or  a  vigorous  staccato  drove  him  wild,  causing 
him  to  dart  about  and  leap  violently  out  of  the 
water.    The  big  Bock-Goby,  who  was  for  seven 
months    his   obstreperous    companion,   became  so 
addicted  to  eating  his  neighbours,  and  caused  such 
ruinous  cataclysms  in  the  mimic  ocean-garden  after 
he  had  grown  to  be  five  inches  in  length,  that 
sentence  was  passed  upon  him  ;  he  was  netted  and 
dropped  into  a  large  freshwater  bath,  in  which  un- 
natural medium  he  was  bound  (according  to  the 
books)  to  die  forthwith  without  any  pain;   but, 
with  the  exception  of  a  somewhat  quicker  aud  more 
laboured  action  of  the  gills,  he  appeared  to  be 
nothing  disconcerted  by  thirty-six  hours'  immer- 
sion.   Having  thus,  at  the  peril  of  his  life,  refuted 
the  popular  notion  that  sea-gobies  die  instantly  if 
transferred  to  fresh  water,  and  having  been  de- 
prived of  liberty  for  many  months  for  our  behests, 
we  felt  under  an  obligation  to  him  ;  besides,  what 
right  have  we  to  destroy  a  life  wantonly— ay,  even 
though  it  be  but  the  little  life  of  a  mute  helpless 
Goby  ?    So  we  put  him  into  a  jar,  and  on  a  bright 
evening  in  the  merry  month  of  May,   when  all 
Nature  was  rejoicing  in  the  balmy  glow  of  spring, 
we  set  him  free  in  his  own  unfettered  sea,  among 
the    bright    rippling  wavelets    of   the    glistening 
Solent,  wishing  him  all  the  happiness  that  it  may 
be  within  the  capacity  of  one  of  his  race  to  enjoy. 
Perhaps  by  this  time  he  has  found  a  sympathetic 
Gobeina,  and  they  twain  may  have  arranged  to 
build  a  nest  and  to  rear  whole  troops  of  little  Gobi- 
kins  amongst  the  sheltering  stems  of  the  forests  of 
laminaria. 

Here  is  Gobius  albus,  the  White  Goby  ;  and  two 
of  the  Dragonets —  Callionymus  Dracunculus,  the 
"  Sordid  Dragonet,"  and  C.  Lyra,  the  "  Gemmeous 
Dragonet."  The  first  is  very  common ;  the  latter> 
which  is  less  frequently  met  with,  is  brilliantly 
coloured,  is  easily  acclimatized,  and  thrives  in  cap- 
tivity. The  branchial  aperture,  which  is  but  a  small 
orifice  on  each  side  near  the  nape  of  the  neck,  will 
distinguish  Callionymus  from  the  other  genera. 

Here  is  a  curious  fellow,  with  a  pentagonal  body, 
an  elongated  head  and  snout,  and  a  tapering,  snaky 


IIARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


1/0 


tail,  looking  like  a  crossbreed  between  the  "  Shield- 
bearer  "  and  a  Pipe-fish, — this  is  the  Eifteen-spined 
Stickleback,  Gasterosteus  spinachia — the  "  Great 
Sea-adder"  as  the  west-country  people  rather 
magnificently  call  him.  We  have  half  a  score  of 
them  here.  A  small  specimen  is  a  pleasing  object  in 


informs  us  that  the  name  was  derived  from  cmaipw, 
to  gasp  or  pant.  Whether  the  Sparidce  are  particu- 
larly "thick  in  the  wind,"  we  do  not  know;  we 
are  inclined  to  think  the  term  is  derived  from  the 
Latin  spar  us,  a  dart  or  lance,  in  allusion  to  their 
sharp-spined  dorsal.     One  of  the  family  was  COm- 


Fig.  93.  The  Fifteen- spined  Stickleback  [Gasterosteus  spinachia). 


an  aquarium :  he  is  not  completely  clad  in  mail, 
but  is  "partially  armoured,"  like  some  of  our  men- 
of-war.  The  lateral  line  is  marked  by  a  series  of 
carinated  scales,  and  the  two  elongated  plates  under- 
neath him  have  given  him  the  title  of  yaarijp- 
oot'boq  (bony-belly).  "It  is  very  voracious, 
swallowing  indiscriminately  the  fry  of  other 
fishes." 

The  common  Sticklebacks,  the  three-  and 
four-spined,  are  among  the  hardiest  of  all 
our  sea  captives ;  they  will  live  under  the 
most  trying  and  unnatural  conditions ; — their 
bright,  flashing,  silvery  scales,  their  lively 
motions,  and  constant  activity  make  them 
very  desirable  for  the  aquarium.  These 
"  Epinoches,"  or,  as  the  Germans  call  them, 
Stechbiittel,  are  very  abundant,  and  in  the 
cold  waters  of  the  Baltic  they  are  often 
caught  in  prodigious  quantities.  Schone- 
velde  tells  us  that  in  the  Gulf  of  Ekreford, 
in  Holstein,  "les  pecheurs  en  retirent  quelque- 
fois  dans  leurs  filets  de  quoi  remplir  plusieurs 
tonnes,  et  ils  en  nourrissent  leurs  cochons."  Better 
even  that  "leurs  cochons"  should  eat  them  than 
that  they  should  be  altogether  wasted ;  but  if 
"leurs  enfants,"  or  somebody  else's  half-starved 
"  enfants,"  could  share  a  few  "  tonnes "  of  them 
with  the  pigs,  it  would  be  more  satisfactory  :  they 
.are  tasty  little  fish  when  nicely  cooked,  as  we  know 
by  experience.  The  ten-spined  species  is  one  of 
the  most  attractive,  as  well  as  one  of  the  smallest 
of  our  coast  fishes,  but  we  have  not  been  fortunate 
enough  to  take  one  in  this  neighbourhood.  The 
whole  "Stickling"  tribe  are  most  destructive, — 
"  Aucun  poisson  fait-il  plus  de  tort  aux  etangs  que 
les  Epinoches  ;  leur  voracite  est  excessive ;  Backer 
a  vu  une  epinoche  devorer  en  cinq  heures  de  temps 
74  poissons  de  l'espece  de  la  "Vandoise."  The 
Stickleback  is  a  nest-builder :  an  illustrated  paper 
thereanent  will  be  found  in  Science-Gossip,  Janu- 
ary, 1866. 

The  Black  Sea-bream  is  the  first  marketable  fish 
that  we  come  across  :  the  cnrapog  is  mentioned  by 
an  old  Greek  author.    Liddell  and  Scott's  lexicon 


mon  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  much  prized  by 
those  right  royal  epicures  the  Romans  :  Ovid  men- 
tions it  in  the  line, 

"  Et  super  aurata  sparulus  cervice  refulgens." 


Fig.  94.  The  Black  Sea-bream  (Cantharus  griseus).    After  Yarrell. 


Our  British  name  "Bream"  seems  to  have  origi- 
nated in  an  Anglo-Norman  word  signifying  cold  or 
bleak.  The  extreme  sensitiveness  of  the  Breams  to 
changes  of  temperature  may  furnish  a  clue  to  a 
fuller  explanation.  "The  colour  of  this  fish  is  blue- 
grey,  marked  with  alternate  dark  and  light  longi- 
tudinal bands ;  from  the  upper  and  back  part  of 
the  head  two  dark  lines  descend  to  the  upper  edge 
of  the  operculum,  enclosing  between  them  a  space 
covered  with  scales;  irides  reddish  orange  ;  lips  and 
region  of  the  mouth  pale  reddish  brown ;  dorsal 
fin  pale  brown,  and  lodged  in  a  groove  throughout 
its  whole  length."  This  groove  is  very  remarkable ; 
its  margins  are  slightly  rounded,  and  under  the 
posterior  extremity  of  the  dorsal  it  forms  a  rounded 
roll.  Mr.  Couch  has  bequeathed  to  us  a  method  of 
preparing  a  bream  for  the  table,  and  as  many  a 
good  fish  is  called  dry,  tasteless,  and  good  for 
nothing,  only  because  Britannia  has  not  a  talent  for 
ruling  her  kitchen,  we  transcribe  the  receipt,  in  the 
hope  of  mitigating  the  evil:— "When  thoroughly 
cleaned,  the  fish  should  be  wiped  dry,  but  none  of 
the  scales  should  be  taken  off.  In  this  state  it 
should  be  broiled,  turning  it  often ;  and  if  the  skin 
cracks,  flour  it  a  little  to  keep  the  outer  case  entire. 


176 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


When  on  table,  the  whole  skin  and  scales  turn  off 
without  difficulty ;  and  the  muscle  beneath,  saturated 
with  its  own  natural  juices,  which  the  outside  cover- 
ing has  retained,  will  be  found  of  good  flavour." 

It  is  not  perhaps  very  generally  known  that  cer- 
tain fishes  ruminate.  What,  chew  the  cud  like  a 
cow?  somebody  exclaims  in  amazement:  even  so; 
the  pharyngeal  teeth  would  be  of  little  use  were  it 
not  for  this.  "  The  fishes  which  afford  the  best 
evidence  of  this  ruminating  action  are  the  Cyprinoids, 
Carp,  Tench,  Bream." 

The  next  we  take  is  of  the  family  of  the  Wrasses, 
or  Itock-fishes,  the  Labridcc,  so  called  from  their 
thick  puffy  lips :  Latin  labrum,  a  lip.  This  is  the 
Ballan  Wrasse,  Labrus  bergylta.  The  colours  of  this 
species  vary  considerably;  the  French  call  it  La 
Fieille  comnncne,  and  according  to  the  predomi- 
nating lint,  distinguish  it  as  La  Vieille  rouge,  La 
Vieille  verte,  or  La  Vieille  jaune.  This,  our  Ballan 
Wrasse,  has  the  back  and  greater  part  of  the  body 
of  a  dark  green,  the  belly  of  a  lighter  colour,  passing 
almost  to  white,  the  rays  and  margins  of  the  fins, 
and  the  margins  of  the  scales,  of  a  fine  orange-red — 
"leur  fond  vert,  varie  de  rouge  ou  de  jaune,  leur  a 
fait  donner  le  nom  de  Per  roquet- de-mer."  It  is  a 
beautiful  rich-looking  fish  when  it  first  comes  flash- 
ing out  of  the  sea  alive.  It  is  sad  that  we  cannot 
preserve  the  glowing  colours  of  the  fishes  we  catch  ; 
the  rich  red  gold,  the  dazzling  glittering  silver,  the 
bright  scarlet,  the  emerald-green,  the  rose-pink,  the 
indescribable  and  endless  shades  of  blue  and  brown 
and  purple,  and  all  the  refulgent  sheen  of  the  finny 
tribes,  which  fairly  vie  with  the  splendours  of  the 
summer -evening  cloud  stained  with  the  dying 
glories  of  the  setting  sun ;  alas,  with  all  our  arts 
we  cannot  fix  them;  they  all  change  or  fade,  and  not 
a  few  of  them  vanish  almost  instantaneously.  The 
very  best  prepared  examples  in  our  museums  are 
but  poor  parched  and  withered  mummies,  and  the 
pickled  corpses  put  up  in  spirits  have  a  fatal  ten- 
dency to  turn  to  a  dull  drab,  with  here  and  there 
perhaps  a  few  faint  traces  of  the  gorgeous  hues  they 
bore  in  life.  Eor  whom  is  all  this  bravery  put  on? 
whose  hearts  are  gladdened  and  whose  eyes  delighted 
by  all  the  dazzling  beauty  of  these  fast-fleeting 
colours  of  the  denizens  of  the  deep  ?  We  know 
that  their  most  brilliant  war-paint  is  donned  in  the 
nuptial  season ;  but  can  finny  flirts  and  scaly 
coquettes  whose  pulses  are  quickened  by  the  radiant 
hues  of  glowing  colours,  also  distinguish  with 
aesthetic  appreciation  the  exquisite  refinement  of 
shade,  the  delicate  nuances  of  tone  and  tint,  and  all 
the  ever-changing  splendours  of  the  hues  of  Iris  ? 
How  much  hidden,  and  as  it  were  wasted  beauty,  is 
there  in  this  wondrous  world  of  ours :  for  whose 
eyes  do  the  waxen  petals  of  the  night-flowering 
plants  unfold  on  the  lone  storm-beaten  peaks  of  the 
vild  Rocky  Mountains  ?  Do  they  charm  the  eye  or 
speak  to  the  heart  of  the  Grizzly  bear  and  the  Soli- 


tary wolf;  and  do  the  Coyote,  the  Owl,  and  the 
Rattlesnake  rejoice  over  the  gold  and  silver  stars 
and  cups  and  bells  of  the  wild  flowers  of  the  prairie  ? 
Surely  these  beauties  are  not  thrown  away;  there  is 
no  waste  in  Nature's  house :  take  even  the  common 
grasses  of  the  fields,  and  the  microscope  will  show 
us  that  they  bear  fairy  flowers  of  pearl  and  crystal, 
powdered  and  spangled  with  dainty  gems  Queen  Mab 
herself  might  covet ;  and  that  their  forms  (invisible 
to  the  unassisted  eye)  are  not  surpassed  in  loveliness 
by  the  superb  Magnolia  or  the  queen  of  the  water- 
lilies.  Whose  minds  have  been  purified,  whose  souls 
lifted  up  by  the  contemplation  of  these  fairest  of 
earth's  offspring  through  all  the  myriad  ages  that 
have  flown?  Were  they  created  merely  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  lenses  of  the  optician ;  and  if  nothing 
more  than  "essential  organs,"  or  lures  to  attract  the 
Hymenoptera,  by  sight  or  smell,  to  visit  them  and 
insure  the  transfer  of  the  pollen,  then  why  so  mar- 
vellously lovely  ? 

But,  revenons  a  nos  poissons.  The  ingenious 
jewellers  of  Venice  utilized  the  metallic  lustres  of 
the  fish,  and  from  the  inner  lining  of  the  scales  of 
the  "Bleak,"  Cyprinus  alburnus,  a  freshwater  member 
of  the  Carp  tribe,  they  manufactured  imitation  pearls 
with  great  success :  we  believe  the  glittering  pig- 
ment of  the  under  side  of  the  mackerel  is  still  used 
for  the  same  purpose  in  Paris,  and  perhaps  in 
London. 

Can  we  not  devise  some  method  of  preserving  the 
colours  ?  At  p.  161  of  Science-Gossip  for  1867,  a 
tribute  of  admiration  is  paid  to  the  preserved  fishes 
shown  by  Captain  Mitchell  at  the  Paris  Exhibition. 
How  did  he  preserve  them  ?  It  will  be  a  pity  if  a 
good  process  remains  a  secret. 


Fig.  95.  The  Corkwing  Wrasse,  \  nat.  size. 

Here  is  another  Wrasse,  comparatively  rare, — the 
Corkwing,  a  gorgeous  little  fellow,  wearing  much 
the  same  colours  as  the  Ballan,  but  banded  across 
the  back,  and  maculated  as  to  the  fins  with  royal 
purple,  and  stamped  with  a  characteristic  round 
spot  on  the  lateral  line  close  to  the  caudal  fin;  a 
charming  little  stranger  for  the  tank.  Ah  me,  these 
other  two,  his  brethren,  we  must  bottle  off  in  spirit, 
and  they  will  turn  to  nobody  knows  what  colour  in 
five  minutes. 

Next  comes  a  "  Whiting  Pout,"  Morrkia  lusca, 
"the  Bib,"  "'Pout,"  or  "Whiting  Pout :"  it  is  one  of 
the  extensive  and  most  valuable  Cod  family,  Gadidce, 
which  includes  the  common  Cod,  the  Haddock,  the 
Whiting,  the  Pollack,  the  Hake,  and  the  Ling,  all  most 
important  food-fishes ;  besides  others  of  less  note. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


177 


We  have  hauled  in  at  least  a  couple  of  hundred  of 
young  Pout  no  bigger  than  minnows,  and  every  one 
of  them  has  died  of  suffocation,  from  being  dragged 
through  the  water  and  smothered  up  in  the  great 
bundle  of  weed  and  rubbish  collected  by  the  Trawl ; 
we  find  them  dead  on  shaking  out  the  cob.  Here 
are  a  lot  of  young  Clupeidce  too  (the  Herring  tribe), 
all  dead  and  done  for :  what  would  these  have  been 
worth  had  they  escaped  the  fatally  fine  meshes  of 
the  murderous  prawn-trawl,  and  lived  on  to  matu- 
rity ?  The  young  of  the  Pout,  the  Herring,  and  the 
Whiting  die  on  the  slightest  provocation;  the 
young  Pout,  especially,  rarely  reaches  the  surface 
alive. 

We  have  a  "Five-bearded  Rockling,"  Motella 
quinquecirrata,  one  of  the  Gadidce.  ;  a  good  eatable 
fish  about  a  foot  long  :  sometimes  we  may  find  one 
amongst  the  stones  at  low  water.  Here  is  another 
of  the  same  great  family, "  the  Coal-fish,"  Merlangus 
carbonarius,  one  of  the  most  voracious  of  the  class ; 
whence  the  Cornishmen  have  named  it  the  Rauning 
{i.e.  ravening)  Pollack :  it  grows  to  a  large  size, 
even  to  thirty  pounds,  and  is  caught  in  immense 
quantities ;  although  somewhat  coarse,  it  must  be 
considered  an  important  member  of  the  group,  on 
account  of  the  bulk  of  meat  it  supplies. 

And  now  let  us  look  at  these  flapping  "  Floun- 
ders," more  commonly  called  Plat-fish,— Pleuronec- 
tidee  (TrXevpd,  side ;  vijKTqg,  fin)  as  they  are 
improperly  named,  the  fins  in  question  being  in 
reality  the  vertical  fins,— viz.,  the  "dorsal"  and 
"anal."  These  animals  being  destined  to  live  at 
the  bottom  of  the  sea,  present  a  very  remarkable 
adaptation  of  structure.  "  To  an  ordinary  observer 
the  Pleuronedida  would  seem  to  have  their  bodies 
flattened  and  spread  out  horizontally,  so  that  while 
resting  upon  their  broad  and  expanded  bellies,  their 
eyes,  situated  upon  the  back  of  the  head,  are  thus 
disposed  for  the  purpose  of  watching  what  passes 
in  the  water  above  them ;  and  this,  the  vulgarly- 
received  opinion,  is  considerably  strengthened  by 
the  fact  that  what  is  usually  called  the  belly  is 
white  and  colourless,  while  the  back  is  darkly 
coloured,  and  sometimes  even  richly  variegated." 
"The  great  peculiarity  of  their  structure  is  the 
want  of  symmetry  between  the  lateral  halves  of 
the  body,  arising  from  the  anomalous  circumstance 
that  both  the  eyes  are  placed  upon  the  same  side  of 
the  head.  Their  cranium,  indeed,  is  composed  of 
the  same  bones  as  that  of  an  ordinary  fish,  but  the 
two  lateral  halves  are  not  equally  developed ;  and 
the  result  is  such  a  distortion  of  the  whole  frame- 
work of  the  face,  that  both  the  orbits  are  trans- 
ferred to  the  same  side  of  the  mesial  line  of  the 
back."  Some  of  them  have  the  eyes  and  the 
coloured  scales  on  the  right  side ;  these — viz.,  the 
Plaice,  the  Plounder,  the  several  kinds  of  Dab,  the 
Pluke,  the  several  kinds  of  Sole,  and  the  mighty 
Holibut— are  called  Dextral  fishes  ;  while  the  Tur- 


bot,  the  Brill,  the  Topknots,  the  Whiff,  and  the 
Scaldfish,  being  coloured,  and  having  the  eyes  on 
the  left  side,  are  called  Sinistral.  All  the  fishes  of 
this  class  are  exceedingly  tenacious  of  life. 


Fig.  96.  The  Dab  {Plaiessa  limunda). 

We  are  indebted  to  Messrs.  Cassell,  Petter,  and 
Galpin  for  this  illustration  of  the  Dab,  as  well  as  for 
fig.  88  :  they  are  taken  from  "The  Ocean  World," 
a  work  abounding  in  spirited  life-like  sketches, 
which  we  commend  to  lovers  of  Marine  zoology. 

First  we  find  we  have  taken  a  Plaice,  Plaiessa 
vulgaris:  it  is  readily  distinguished  from  its  con- 
geners by  the  large  bright  orange-red  spots  dis- 
persed all  over  the  body :  when  young,  there  is 
often  a  dark  spot  in  the  centre  of  the  orange  one. 
The  scales  are  small  and  smooth,  and  the  right  side 
is  of  a  rich  brown.  Next  we  find  the  Common 
Dab,  Plaiessa  limanda :  it  is  remarkable  for  the 
roughness  of  its  scales;  hence  it  is  sometimes  called 
the  Rough  Dab :  its  specific  name  (limanda)  is 
derived  from  the  Latin  lima,  a  file :  the  colour  of 
the  right  side  is  a  uniform  pale  brown.  We  have 
yet  another,  the  Lemon  Dab,  Plaiessa  microcephala, 
with  smooth  scales  and  a  light  yellowish-brown 
side,  with  darker  brown  specks  ;  the  lips  and  edges 
of  the  operculum  are  yellow.  Here  is  a  Sole,  Solea 
vulgaris,  the  most  delicately-rich  and  firm-fleshed 
of  all  the  flat  fishes :  examples  have  been  known  to 
weigh  nine  pounds.  Specimens  called  "  Reversed 
Soles  "  (i.e.  sinistral,  instead  of  dextral)  are  not 
uncommon ;  the  coloured  side  is  of  a  greenish- 
brown,  the  lateral  line  straight;  the  right  eye 
almost  touches  the  angle  of  the  mouth.    There  are 


17S 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


"  Lemon  Soles "  on  the  Sussex  coast  almost  as 
yellow  as  the  fruit ;  they  are  taken  off  Emsworth, 
aud  fetch  a  fancy  price.  We  have  yet  another 
Sole,  Solea  variegata  (the  "Variegated  Sole"), 
sometimes  called  the  Thickback,  Bastard,  and  Red- 
back ;  it  is  much  smaller  than  the  others,  and  of  a 
reddish-brown,  mottled  with  black  patches.  All 
these  varieties  of  flat-fish  that  we  have  caught  are 
chiefly  taken  with  the  Trawl,  and  the  number  sold 
in  our  markets  is  almost  beyond  belief.  "Mr.  May- 
hew,  in  some  of  his  investigations,  found  out  that 
upwards  of  33,000,000  of  Plaice  were  annually  re- 
quired to  aid  the  London  commissariat.  But  that 
is  nothing.  Three  times  that  quantity  of  Soles  are 
needed— one  would  fancy  this  to  be  a  statistic  of 
shoe-leather, — the  exact  figure  given  by  Mr.  May- 
hew  is  97,520,000.  This  is  not  in  the  least  exagge- 
rated. I  discussed  these  figures  with  a  Billingsgate 
salesman  a  few  months  ago,  and  he  thinks  them 
quite  within  the  mark."— ("  Harvest  of  the  Sea," 
page  208.)  In  these  our  present  operations  we 
have  hauled  in  at  every  cast  at  least  a  score  of 
young  flat-fish,  varying  from  the  size  of  a  shilling 
to  three  inches  in  length,  for  every  eatable  (we 
don't  say  saleable)  fish  of  the  same  genus.  We  may 
say  the  same  in  the  case  of  all  other  kinds,  and  may 
even  multiply  the  number  of  fry  by  ten  in  some 
cases.  There  are  people  who  maintain  that  the 
Trawl  is  a  most  harmless  instrument,  and  the  re- 
moval of  the  slender  restrictions  now  placed  upon 
its  use  has  even  found  advocates  in  high  places ; 
we  declare  the  small-meshed  trawls,  and  especially 
the  prawn-trawls,  which  suffer  nothing  to  escape,  to 
be  most  ruinous  and  murderous  engines  of  destruc- 
tion :  not  only  do  they  cause  the  death  of  millions- 
of-millions  of  young  fish  of  the  most  valuable  kinds, 
but  they  tear  up  and  destroy  the  weed  and  cultch 
amongst  which  they  shelter  and  on  which  they  feed ; 
they  spoil  the  feeding-beds.  The  fishermen,  especi- 
ally the  old  men  who  have  retired,  admit  privately 
that  "  the  beds  all  about  here  have  been  scraped  as 
bare  as  the  back  of  your  hand,"  and  will  tell  of  the 
bushels  of  fry  killed  in  every  night's  work.  "1 
wonder  that  there's  any  fish  left  at  all,"  said  au  old 
Sea-Bear  the  other  day ;  but  of  this  more  anon ; 
we  have  not  space  just  at  present. 

We  have  a  "  Sharp-nosed  Eel,"  Anguilla  acuti- 
rostris.  The  habits  of  this  creature  and  of  eels  in 
general,  their  strange  migrations,  their  overland 
journeys,  their  marvellous  instinct  for  finding  their 
way  from  inland  freshwater  stews  to  the  salt  sea, 
are  most  interesting;  but  we  cannot  pause  to  con- 
sider them. 

We  have  taken  two  species  of  Syngnutld, — viz., 
S.  Acus,  the  "Great  Pipe-fish,"  aud  S.  ophidion, 
the  "  Straight-nosed  Pipe-fish."  These  and  others 
have  been  depicted  in  a  former  paper  (p.  202, 
Sept.,  1870).  We  have  seen  that  the  Carp  chews 
the  cud  like  an  ox ;  but  here  we  have  a  fish  that 


carries  its  young  in  a  pouch  like  an  Opossum  or  a 
Kangaroo.  The  lady  Acus  extrudes  two  strings 
of  eggs  :  in  the  specimen  before  us  there  are  thirty- 
two  in  each  string.  The  gentleman  Acus  is  pro- 
vided with  two  broad  flaps  (the  left  overlapping  the 
right),  which  run  along  the  whole  length  of  the 
underside  of  his  tail ;  he  carefully  receives  the  eggs 
from  his  lady  love,  and  places  them  in  parallel  rows 
beneath  his  apron-flaps,  and  not  only  carries  them 
until  they  are  hatched,  but  dutifully  nurses  the 
little  ones  after  they  are  born.  We  commend  the 
Great  Pipe-fish  to  the  consideration  of  the  "Women's 
Rights  Association,"  and  if  that  Amazonian  pha- 
lanx have  not  yet  decided  upon  the  device  to  be 
emblazoned  on  their  shields  and  banners,  we  venture 
to  suggest,  two  Syngnathi  entwined,  as  a  suitable 
and  highly  expressive  emblem. 

Twenty-three  varieties  of  fishes  have  been  taken 
in  our  net,  not  all  in  one  cast,  as,  for  the  sake  of 
brevity,  we  have  made  it  appear,  but  in  ten  or 
twelve  casts,  occupying,  together  with  the  shifting 
of  ground,  about  fourteen  hours. — viz.,  from  twelve 
o'clock  noon  until  two  hours  after  midnight,  spent 
on  many  banks  and  beds  between  the  Warner 
Shoal  and  the  Mother  Bank.  We  now  pass  on  to 
the  Crustacea  taken  during  the  same  cruise.  The 
smaller  genera  of  these  are  found  to  be  strangely 
local,  varying  with  every  bed,  leading  us  to  conclude 
that  they  are  not  much  given  to  travelling.  Pirst 
we  notice  a  fine  Lobster,  the  common  edible  lobster, 
Ilomarus  vulgaris;  and  next,  a  "  Scaly  Galathea," 
Galathea  sqiiamifera. 


Fig.  9/.  The  Scaly  Galathea  [Galathea  squami/era). 

At  first  sight  one  would  put  the  Galathea  down 
as  nearer  a  lobster  than  a  crab;  but  it  is  a  true 


HAIIDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


179 


crab,  one  of  the  Porcellanadce,  or  Porcelain-crab 
family,  and  of  the  class  Decapoda  anomoura  {vide 
Science-Gossip,  April,  1869,  p.  74).  The  colour  of 
this  Galathea  is  a  greenish  brown  tinged  with  red  : 
there  is  a  splendid  species,  G.  strigosa,  the  "  Spiny 
Galathea,"  of  a  brilliant  vermilion  colour,  the  in- 
tegument between  the  shell-plates  being  of  a  deep 
cobalt-blue  ;  it  inhabits  deep  water,  but  we  once  took 
one  off  Bembridge  Ledge.  The  "  Spiny  Lobster," 
Palinurus  vulgaris,  is  sold  hereabouts  under  the 


crabs  are  scavengers) ;  and  the  old  familiar  "  Hermit 
Crab,"  Pagurus  Bemhardus.  Nearly  all  of  these  have 
been  either  figured  or  described  in  the  past  numbers 
of  Science-Gossip,  and  it  is  needless  to  dilate  upon 
them  here  ;  but  here  are  two  strangers,  not  by  any 
means  common,  and  we  have  got  both  the  male  and 
female  alive  in  one  and  the  same  haul :  Corystes 
Cassivelaunus,  the  "Masked  Crab,"  the  first  pair 
it  has  ever  been  our  lot  to  capture. 

This  genus  is  sometimes  called  "the  Long-armed 


Fig.  98.  The  Male. 


The  Masked  Crab  (Con/stes  Cnssvidaunus). 
Drawn  from  Nature,  lite  size. 


Fig.  93.  The  Female. 


name  of  the  Crawfish ;  it  has  no  "  pinchers,"  and 
boils  of  a  dull  dirty  red  tinged  with  brown :  the 
real  Crayfish,  Astacus  fluviatilis,  belongs  to  a  differ- 
ent family  altogether,  and  is  armed  with  powerful 
claws. 

Of  the  veritable  short-tailed  crustaceans  we  have 
got  "  the  Slender  Spider-crab,"  Stenorhynchus  tenui- 
rostris  ;  "  the  Long-legged  ditto,"  S.  Phalangium  ; 
another  crab,  Pisa;  the  "  Harbour  Crab,"  Carcinus 
mcenas ;  the  "  Arched  -  fronted  Swimming-crab," 
Portunusarcuatus  ;  the  "  Cleanser  ditto,"  P.  Bepura- 
tor,  who  has  no  special  claim  to  this  epithet  (all 


Crab,"  a  term  that  can  only  be  correctly  applied  to 
the  male  :  it  is  of  a  pinky  cream-colour  and  burrows 
in  the  sand,  leaving  only  the  tips  of  its  long  seti- 
gerous  antennae  visible.  We  are  indebted  to  Mr. 
Gosse  for  the  discovery  of  the  special  functions  per- 
formed by  these  organs.  "I  have  observed  that, 
when  these  crabs  are  kept  in  an  aquarium,  they  are 
fond  of  sitting  bolt  upright,  the  antennas  placed 
close  together,  and  also  pointing  straight  upward 
from  the  head.  This  is,  doubtless,  the  attitude  in 
which  the  animal  sits  in  its  burrow,  for  the  tips  of  the 
antenna?  may  often  be  seen  just  projecting  from  the 


ISO 


HARD  WICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


sand.  When  the  chosen  seat  has  happened  to  be  so 
close  to  the  glass  side  of  the  tank  as  to  bring  the  an- 
tennae within  the  range  of  a  pocket  lens,  I  have  mi- 
nutely investigated  these  organs,  without  disturbing 
the  old  warrior  in  his  meditation.  I  immediately  saw, 
on  each  occasion,  that  a  strong  current  of  water 
was  continuously  pouring  up  from  the  points  of 
the  approximate  antennae.  Tracing  this  to  its 
origin,  it  became  evident  that  it  was  produced  by 
the  rapid  vibration  of  the  foot-jaws,  drawing  in  the 
surrounding  water,  and  pouring  it  off  upwards 
between  the  united  antenna,  as  through  a  long  tube. 
Then  on  examining  these  organs,  I  perceived  that 
the  form  and  arrangement  of  their  bristles  did  in- 
deed constitute  each  antenna  a  semi-tube,  so  that 
when  the  pair  were  brought  face  to  face  the  tube 
was  complete."  "I  think  then  that  we  may,  with 
an  approach  to  certainty,  conclude  that  the  long 
antennas  are  intended  to  keep  a  passage  open 
through  the  sand,  from  the  bottom  of  the  burrow 
to  the  superincumbent  water,  for  the  purpose  of 
pouring  off  the  waste  water,  rendered  effete  by 
havinglbathed  the  gills." 

Of  the  smaller  crustaceans  we  have  caught 
enough  to  fill  several  buckets.  "  Oh !  what  a  lot  of 
prawns  !  "  cries  one  of  the  party,  when  the  light  of 
the  lantern,  just  after  midnight,  falls  upon  the  pro- 
duce of  "  a  long  leg  "  over  the  Horse.—"  Pra— ans," 
replies  a  weary  mariner  peevishly;  "them  baint 
pra — ans,  its  them  cussed  Night-walkers,  they  is." 
"Night-walkers  do  you  call  them  ?  "  exclaims  an  ex- 
cited naturalist,  interrogatively :  "  Oh  !  oh !  they 
swarm  at  night  do  they?  then  that  is  why  certain 
feather-bed  philosophers  declare  that  Nika  edulis 
is  rare ;  the  lazy  rascals,  let  them  come  and  work  out 
here  sub  Jovefrigido,  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morn- 
ing, and  they  won't  say  they  are  scarce." 


Fig.  100.  The  Night-walker  {Nika  edulis). 

The  Night-walker  is  singularly  translucent  if  not 
transparent ;  the  females  we  have  caught  are  laden 
with  ova  of  a  most  delicate  pale  grass-green.  We 
have  had  one  for  months  in  the  aquarium— a  lively, 
active,  restless  thing;  she  deposited  eggs  by 
hundreds,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of  her  hungry 
fellow  detenus,  who  ate  them  all. 

Close  inshore  undejr  the  Browndown  battery, 
where  the  bottom  is  said  by  the  first  mate  to  be 


"pertickler  grassy,"  we  get  all  at  once  and  all 
together  a  great  quantity  of  brilliant  and  striking 
shrimplike  things  which  we  have  not  found  any- 


Fig.  101.  Hippolyte  vurians. 

where  else.  We  have  two  varieties  with  "  kinks  " 
in  their  saddled  backs  ;  the  one  is  a  glossy  crimson- 
lake,  the  other  a  shining  green,  precisely  match- 
ing the  hues  of  certain  seaweeds.  Widely  diver- 
gent as  the  colours  of  the  two  creatures  are,  they 
are  specifically  the  same.  We  have  plenty  of  the 
common  shrimps,  Crangon  vulgaris,  and,  mixed  up 
with  the  Hippolytes,  a  vast  quantity  of  the  pretty 
"Banded  Shrimp,"  Crangon fasciatus. 


Fig.  102.  The  Banded  Shrimp  {Crimgon  fnsciatus). 

We  have  true  Prawns,  Pala>mon  serratus,  both 
old  and  young,  in  all  stages  of  growth ;  some  so 
large  that  they  seem  to  be  attempting  to  swell 
themselves  out  into  lobsters,  and  others  in  their 
early  babyhood.  Now  let  us  see,  we  have  about 
three  gallons  of  edible  or  rather  of  saleable  or 
fashionable  crustaceans,  i.e.  of  the  Prawn  and 
Shrimp  kinds  ;  the  others  are  equally  good,  but  not 
yet  in  vogue.  Of  the  marketable  sorts  there  are 
many  degrees :  first  of  all  the  cabin-boy,  who 
would  have  developed  into  a  powder-monkey  in 
Nelson's  time,  but  who  in  this  day  of  great  names, 
when  the  shopboy  is  "  a  commercial  assistant,"  and 
the  lawyer's  clerk  "a  gentleman  connected  with  the 
eminent  legal  firm  of,  &c.  &c,"  there  are  no 
powder-monkeys;  they  are  "magazine-men,"  if  you 
please ; — well,  the  young  sea-whelp  picks  out  the 
most  ambitious  prawns,  about  150  all  told, — these 
will  sell  at  the  rate  of  25  a  shilling,  and  nobody 
but  the  Chief  mate  (who  also  constitutes  the  Star- 
board-watch) can  be  trusted  to  boil  them ;   they 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


1S1 


must  be  boiled  in  the  boat,  to  be  first-rate,  and 
not  only  to  be  first-rate,  but  to  be  saleable. 
"  When  they  dies  nateral,  they  dies  with  their  tails 
out  straight,  and  they  don't  look  sa  purty,  and 
folks  wunna  buy  'em ;  but  if  we  biles  'em  afore 
they  be  dead,  they  tucks  their  tails  in  tidy  under- 
neath 'em."  The  smoky  little  stove  under  the 
forecastle  is  set  fuming,  and  the  select  Palamonidcc 
are  put  into  a  saucepan  with  seawater  and  boiled 
for  fifteen  minutes,  when  they  are  turned  out  into  a 
wicker  basket,  which  acts  as  a  strainer  and  lets  the 
hot  water  run  off,  and  then  the  Starboard-watch 
rushes  to  the  gunwale  and  dashes  the  hot  smoking 
prawns,  basket  and  all,  into  the  sea  alongside, 
sousing  them  half  a  dozen  times  or  so  in  the  cold 
waters.  "It  makes  'em  crisp,"  he  says,  and  they 
certainly  put  on  a  much  more  roseate  hue  than  they 
wore  before ;  then,  all  glowing,  pink,  and  crisp, 
and  shining,  they  are  laid  out  in  another  basket, 
and  intermixed  with  a  surprisiug  quantity  of  coarse 
kitchen  salt,  a  good  handful  to  about  fifty,  and 
they  are  ready  for  sale  after  about  three  hours; 
without  the  salt,  they  would  be  watery  and  taste- 
less. The  Starboard-watch  takes  the  helm  ;  the 
Second-mate,  who  is  the  Port-watch,  proceeds  to 
operate  in  a  similar  manner  upon  some  300  middle- 
sized  prawns  and  large  shrimps  (the  latter  in  boiling 
become  curiously  mottled  with  opaque  white, 
recovering  their  natural  or  rather  final  colour  when 
plunged  in  the  cold  bath),  worth  about  a  shilling 
per  100,  and  when  he  emerges,  the  prospective 
powder-0iff»  treats  a  couple  of  gallons  of  smaller 
samples  in  the  same  fashion;  these,  irrespective  of 
genus  or  species,  are  designated  "cup-shrimps," 
and  will  be  sold  at  a  halfpenny  the  half-pint  cup 
in  the  small  bye-streets  and  courts.  We  have 
Mysis  vulgaris,  and  our  old  friend  Gammarus  locusta 
{vide  September,  1S69,  p.  197). 

Of  the  family  Idotaa,  we  have  Stenosoma  linear e 
{vide  Sept.,  1870,  p.  198)  and  a  shorter  and  thicker 
species,  Idotcea  tricuspidata  ;  but  here,  under  the 
carapace  of  a  prawn,  causing  one  of  those  bulging 
swellings  we  so  often  see  in  both  prawns  and 
shrimps,  is  another  of  the  Isopod  tribe ;  not  a  bit 
like  Stenosoma  you  will  say;  but,  nevertheless,  a 
true  Idotcea,  called  Bopyrus. 


Fig.  103.  Bupyrus  crangorum,  x  10.    Male  and  female. 


These  creatures  fasten  on  under  the  gill-covers 
of  prawns  and  shrimps.  As  they  are  often  found 
with  their  backs  to  the  assailable  portions  of 
their  hosts,  it  has  been  thought  that  they  may 
only  use  their  retreat  as  a  dwelling-place,  feed- 
ing themselves  upon  the  animalculse  contained 
in  the  water  passing  over  the  branchiae  of  their 
landlords ;  but  we  strongly  suspect  that  they 
take  more  than  house-room  from  their  enter- 
tainers. 

Of  the  Mollusca,  we  have  bagged  Sepia  officinalis, 
Sepiola  Atlantica,  and  Loligo  media.  There  are  so 
many  illustrated  papers  in  previous  numbers  upon 
Cuttlefish,  that  we  need  not  speak  of  them  again. 
We  have  got  Philine  aperta,  one  of  the  slug-like 
B  nil  a  dee  ;  one  solitary  Top,  Trochus  cinereus  ;  and 
one  tiny  littoral  shell,  Rissoa  labiosa:  the  lingual 
strap  of  the  latter  is  very  fine. 

Now  take  off  your  hats,  and  behold  in  reverent 
silence  the  unchanged  descendants  of  the  first 
vertebrate  progenitors  of  the  human  race :  these 
are  old-fashioned  fellows,  who  have  not  departed 
from  the  customs  of  their  forefathers;  ages  ago 
some  wild  adventurous  speculators  developed  them- 
selves desperately,  and  their  progeny  are  now  kings 
and  bishops  and  judges,  and  no  one  knows  what ; 
but  these  are  the  offspring  of  the  steady-going  old 
"  Square-toes,"  who  clung  to  the  good  old  ways  of 
the  good  old  times;  they  hated  selection,  and 
eschewed  development ;  this  is  the  reason  why  they 
are  still  only  Ascidians,  and  instead  of  "  saving " 
Prance  or  "unificating"  Germany,  they  are  being 
dragged  up  by  the  trawl  and  put  into  a  pickle- 
bottle. 


Fig.  104.  Ascidia  mentula. 

We  have  three — nay  four  varieties,  Ascidia  mentula, 
A.  aspersa,  A.  virginea,  besides  a  Cynthia. 
Last  of  all,  we  pick  up  a  green  sea-anemone  with 


iS2 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


rosy-tipped  tentacles,  Anthea  cereus  ;  and  that  ends 
the  list.  Let  us  reckon  up  the  number  of  the 
various  classes,  genera,  and  species  of  aquatic 
creatures  we  have  secured.  Of  Fishes,  23 ;  of 
Crustacea  (including  the  Isopoda),19;  of  Mollusca, 
G ;  of  Molluscoida,  4 ;  of  Actinia,  1 :  grand  total, 
53.    What  a  collection  ! 

We  could  not  attempt  to  catalogue  the  endless 
annelids  great  and  small,  the  polyzoa  and  hydrozoa, 
and  all  manner  of  zoa  found  amongst  the  weed, 
which  have  added  a  dozen  new  slides  at  least  to  the 
microscopic  cabinet  in  the  Haslar  Museum :  we 
have  an  idea  that  sundry  starfishes,  oysters,  mussels, 
whelks,  &c,  ought  to  have  figured  in  our  list; 
which,  with  the  exception  of  these  omissions,  is  a 
bond  fide  list  of  the  spoils  we  sorted  out  after  a  trip, 
and  not  a  spurious  concatenation  of  things  (that  it 
might  be  possible  to  catch)  compiled  from  a  Cyclo- 
paedia. 

The  time,  labour,  and  expense  of  these  little  ex- 
peditions are  too  often  thrown  away  for  want  of  a 
little  common  care  and  foresight ;  the  young  natu- 
ralist is  apt  to  trust  to  the  boatman  "  to  find  some- 
thing to  put  the  things  in,"  and  "the  things"  get 
put  into  the  fisherman's  bucket,  and  if  the  latter  is 
not  capsized  by  a  lurch,  it  gets  put  in  the  hot  sun : 
the  little  fishes  in  their  struggles  get  stuck  into  the 
gasping  throats  and  gills  of  the  big  fishes,  who  are 
stifled  and  poisoned  with  heat  and  overcrowding. 
If  these  catastrophes  are  avoided,  the  mate  or  the 
boy  is  promised  an  extra  sixpence  "  to  carry  them 
up  to  the  house " ;  and  as  the  smack  has  to  be 
moored,  and  all  the  gear  made  safe  and  snug,  a  long 
time  elapses  before  the  toil-earned  specimens  arrive, 
when  probably  all  that  have  not  been  lost  by  the 
slopping-over  of  the  bucket  en  route,  have  been 
effectually  suffocated  by  the  shaking  and  jolting, 
and  many  are  not  only  dead,  but  torn  and  mashed 
and  spoiled  ;  if  any  have  survived,  the  chances  are 
there  is  no  clean  cool  sea- water  to  put  them  into, 
and  they  soon  go  the  way  of  the  rest ;  next  morning 
they  offend  somebody's  olfactories,  nobody  knows 
how  to  preserve  them  ;  and  like  the  proverbial  salt 
that  hath  lost  its  savour,  they  are  cast  upon  the 
dunghill.  "Tabby  Tom"  from  next-door,  soon 
"winds"  them,  and  scrambling  over  the  wall,  com- 
mits suicide  by  filling  his  belly  with  the  sharp 
spines  of  the  Acanthoptenjgii,  or  the  still  more 
fatal  spines  of  a  starfish :  there  is  a  terrible 
caterwauling  over  his  mortal  remains,  first  by  the 
tight-laced  Spinsters,  his  Mistresses,  who  bring 
a  charge  of  arsenic  and  malice  prepense ;  and 
secondly,  by  his  feline  mistresses,  whose  unearthly 
screams  and  wailings  on  the  tiles  make  midnight 
horrible. 

If  a  thing  is  worth  doing  at  all,  it  is  worth  doing 
well,  and  a  little  prevision  and  provision  are  neces- 
sary to  secure  success.  Before  we  set  out,  we  take 
care  to  have  two  or  three  large  clean  glazed  earthen 


footpans  and  flat  shallow  milkpans  well  scalded  out, 
and  then  filled  with  clean  sea- water ;  and  we  take 
with  us,  besides  the  bottles  and  jars  for  little  things, 
two  or  more  big  unpainted  iron  garden  watering- 
pots,  also  carefully  scalded  out,  and  an  old  rug  to 
spread  above  them  tent-fashion  when  the  sun  is  up; 
we  take  care  to  put  them  in  a  safe  place  in  the  boat, 
and  lash  them  so  that  they  can't  be  upset ;  before 
the  first  haul  we  half  fill  them  from  alongside,  and 
from  time  to  time  we  add  water,  and  if  we  are  out 
long,  we  now  and  then  pour  off  part  of  the  old  and 
effete  fluid,  and  fill  up  again  afresh :  these  cans  are 
easily  carried  by  a  man  with  a  milkman's  yoke,  or 
they  will  ride  in  a  cab,  and  do  not  in  either  case 
slop  over,  On  our  return  home  the  living  things  are 
at  once  lifted  out  with  a  net  into  the  cool  clean 
water  in  the  open  airy  pans,  there  to  await  our 
final  disposal.  Creatures  that  are  to  be  removed 
ultimately  to  the  permanent  aquarium  require  to  be 
gradually  acclimatized ;  they  are  apt  to  go  wrong  if 
plunged  at  once  into  a  long- established  colony. 
Throw  away  the  water  that  has  come  home  in  the 
cans ;  its  oxygen  has  been  exhausted ;  it  is  all  hot 
and  muddled,  and  foul  with  the  vomitings  of  the 
crowded  prisoners ;  it  would  poison  Beelzebub ; 
throw  it  away. 

Fishes  that  have  to  be  preserved  in  a  rough-and- 
ready  way  for  future  reference  and  examination, 
may  be  put  just  as  they  are,  into  a  confectioner's 
show-glass  filled  with  common  methylated  spirit ; 
in  about  a  week  the  mucus  and  other  impurities 
will  have  settled  to  the  bottom  in  fiocculent  masses, 
the  super-natant  spirit  will  be  as  clear  as  water : 
then  lift  each  one  carefully  out  and  wipe  it  gently 
over  with  a  soft  sponge  moistened  with  spirits 
of  ammonia,  which  will  completely  free  it  from 
slime  and  brighten  it  up ;  then  place  it  in  fresh 
methylated  spirit,  either  in  a  show-glass  or  in  a 
proper  "  specimen  glass "  with  a  ground-glass 
stopper.  The  fewer  that  are  put  into  the  same 
jar  the  better;  but  we  have  thirty  fishes  and  an 
infinity  of  crustaceans  in  one  single  jar,  in  which 
they  have  remained  without  deterioration  for  three 
years. 

Those  who  wish  to  make  a  study  of  our  Fishes, 
will  do  well  to  procure  YarrelFs  "  British  Fishes  " ; 
Couch's  "Fishes  of  the  British  Islands";  Cuvier 
and  Valencieuue's  "Histoire  Naturelle  des  Pois- 
sons,"  and  to  hunt  out  the  papers  by  Dr.  Giinther 
and  others  in  "  Ann.  Mag.  Nat.  Hist."  Bertram's 
"Harvest  of  the  Sea"  is  an  interesting  book  ;  and 
to  unpretending  people,  who  are  not  ashamed  to  be 
seen  referring  to  a  handbook  when  out  on  a  seaside 
holiday, we  strongly  recommend  Mr.  Gosse's  "Manual 
of  Marine  Zoology."  With  it  in  their  pockets  they 
can  scarcely  fail  to  identify  any  living  thing  they 
can  possibly  catch  on  our  coasts,  with  the  Dredge, 
the  Towing-net,  or  the  Trawl. 

Bury  Cross,  Gosport. 


HAftDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


183 


THE  BULLFINCH. 

A  S  "  J.  R.  S,  C."  does  not  seem  acquainted  with 
-"-  the  Bullfinch  in  an  aviary,  perhaps  a  few  words 
may  be  interesting. 

The  Bullfinch  kept  in  a  cage  is  very  different  to 
that  kept  in  an  aviary.  He  seems  very  solitary, 
sitting  on  the  perch  with  an  air  of  indifference 
that  almost  amounts  to  moping,  and  if  the  mono- 
tony is  broken  by  his  song,  it  is  so  poor  that  it  is 
scarcely  worth  mentioning;  indeed,  the  hen  sings 
equally  as  well  as  the  cock. 

Yet  in  a  cage  he  will  become  remarkably  tame, 
especially  if  you  can  find  the  food  he  likes  best,  tak- 
ing care  that  he  takes  nearly  all  of  that  particular 
food  from  the  hand :  he  will  then  soon  answer  to  a 
name,  if  the  name  be  made  use  of  at  the  time  of 
feeding. 

Last  season  my  son  brought  up  a  nest  of  bull- 
finches, with  an  idea  of  teaching  them  the  "  Blue 
Bells  of  Scotland;"  but  as  they  did  not  turn  out  good 
scholars,  they  were  let  fly  in  the  aviary,  and  at  any 
time  the  tune  was  played,  they  would  assemble  and 
get  as  close  to  the  performer  as  possible. 

The  wild  sons  of  the  Bullfincli  is  low  and  jarring, 
but  it  has  also  about  two  low  piping  notes.  Although 
such  a  poor  songster,  it  has  an  odd  yet  fascinating 
manner  when  singing,  moving  its  head  from  right 
to  left. 

The  English  Bullfinch  is  a  better  speculation  than 
the  German  bird ;  indeed,  all  birds  from  Germany  arc 
very  delicate,  and  rarely  live  long  in  this  country. 

If  you  wish  your  bird  to  pipe  a  tune,  you  must 
have  him  from  the  neet.  In  Germany  the  bird  is 
brought  up  from  the  nest  and  kept  principally  in 
the  dark  while  being  taught  by  a  bird-organ ;  but 
after  all  this  training  many  birds  will  not  pipe  worth 
anything. 

"Without  any  trouble  the  Bullfinch  is  an  interest- 
ing pet,  and  may  be  seen  to  perfection  in  an  aviary. 
So  different  to  the  bird  kept  in  a  cage,  so  attentive 
to  his  hen,  displaying  much  sprightliness  in  flying 
about,  taking  his  bath,  and  singing  as  best  he  can, 
calling  the  hen  to  nest,  and  also  helping  her  to  build; 
now  iii  the  nest  uttering  that  peculiar  call  "  pheew, 
pheew."  How  many  times  when  a  boy  have  I  fol- 
lowed the  sound,  thinking  it  proceeded  from  young 
birds  being  fed  or  in  distress. 

Last  autumn  I  placed  a  pair  of  these  birds  in  my 
aviary,  where  all  kinds  of  birds  are  kept,  and  instead 
of  interfering  with  their  neighbours,  it  is  just  the 
reverse.  Some  few  days  ago  they  partly  built  a  nest, 
but  the  Hawfinch  thought  proper  to  make  a  roost- 
ing-place  of  it,  so  the  Bullfinch  had  to  give  it  up  : 
they  are  busy  now  searching  for  another  place ;  in- 
deed, I  think  if  the  hen  could  find  a  nest  ready- 
made  she  would  like  it;  for,  upon  a  canary  leaving 
her  nest,  that  is  situated  not  far  from  that  which 
was  half  built   by  the  Bullfinch,  she  took  up  her 


quarters  in  the  Canary's  nest,  and  was  making  her- 
self comfortable,  when  the  Canary  returned,  and  ol 
course  beat  her  out.  The  Hawfinch  being  removed, 
they  have  now  finished  their  nest ;  so  in  a  few  days 
I  expect  to  find  eggs. 

An  aviary  is  not  complete  without  the  Bullfinch, 
where  he  seems  as  happy  as  though  he  were  in  the 
woods :  he  will  be  found  to  live  upon  good  terms 
with  his  leathered  companions,  from  the  Siskin  to 
the  Hawfinch,  and  a  hybrid  bullfinch  is  sometimes 
seen. 

I  have  often  heard  of  the  colour  of  this  bird  being 
changed  by  feeding  upon  hemp-seed,  but  think  it 
must  not  be  accepted  as  the  rule,  but  rather  the 
exception. 

The  Bullfinch  does  not  congregate  in  flocks,  as  the 
Goldfinch,  Chaffinch,  &c. ;  consequently  they  are 
caught  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  by  birdlime  twigs  : 
those  taken  at  the  fall  of  the  year  are  most  likely 
to  live.  His  meat  should  be  rape  and  canary,  with 
hemp-seed  about  twice  a  week.  Should  he  fall  sick, 
he  should  have  maw-seed,  hard-boiled  egg  chopped 
fine,  also  sopped  bread  aud  milk  :  to  keep  your  bird 
in  health,  he  should  be  bountifully  supplied  with 
gravel  and  water,  also  green  meat. 

Chas.  J.  W.  Btjdd. 

YELLOW    ANT. 

(Formica  JIava.) 

rpiilS  ant  (that  is  the  neuter  or  worker)  is 
-*-  in  size  scarcely  bigger  than  the  well-known 
black  ant.  Its  localities  are  on  the  turf  and 
hedge-banks  on  the  borders  of  roads.  It  swarms 
in  September;  respecting  which  I  find  the  fol- 
lowing note  iu  my  diary  under  September  15th, 
1870: — To-day,  after  a  long  ramble,  and  feeling 
somewhat  fatigued,  I  lay  down  on  the  grass  by  the 

side  of  the  H road.    I  had  not  lain  long  before 

I  noticed  that  the  grass  stems  for  yards  around 
were  covered  with  glittering  moving  particles. 
Looking  more  closely,  I  found  them  to  be  an  im- 
mense number  of  the  large  winged  females  of  the 
yellow  ant  preparing  to  migrate,  aud  that  the  glit- 
tering appearance  proceeded  from  their  wings,  of 
which  each  ant  has  four.  These  females  were  very 
much  larger  than  the  neuters,  and  of  a  darker  colour, 
but  yellowish  below.  On  searching  around,  I  found 
several  nests  of  these  ants,  or  at  least  holes  through 
which  the  insects  issued  in  great  numbers.  The 
light-coloured  neuters  were  clustered  round  these 
holes,  aud  as  each  of  the  gorgeously- apparelled 
females  made  her  appearance  from  the  hole,  she 
was  surrounded  by  the  neuters,  who  stroked  and 
caressed  her  with  their  antennae  just  as  we  see  a 
fond  mother  giving  the  finishing  brushiugs,  arrang- 
ings,  and  congratulations  to  her  child  when  setting 
out  for  school.  The  insect,  after  passing  through 
this  ordeal,  mounted  on  the  top  of  a  blade  of  grass 


184 


HARDWICKE'S    S  CI  EN  C  E- GOSSIP. 


to  try  its  wings.  In  the  midst  of  another  cluster 
of  neuters,  I  noticed  a  small  number  of  winged 
ants  much  inferior  in  size  to  the  other  winged  ones, 
and  of  a  darker  colour ;  these  I  inferred  to  be  the 
males.  The  greater  number  of  the  winged  ants 
had  departed  by  five  p.m.  It  was,  I  must  confess, 
a  very  interesting  sight.  The  only  drawback  to 
this  scene  of  good  order  was  the  presence  of  a  small 
band  of  the  ferocious  red  ants,  which  were  stationed 
in  a  dense  thicket  of  grass-blades  close  by ;  and  when 
an  opportunity  offered,  rushed  out  and  caught  a 
straggling  yellow  neuter,  and  most  unceremoniously 
dragged  it  off  by  its  antennae.  One  of  the  yellow 
ants  on  being  seized  thus  by  the  red  cannibal,  en- 
deavoured to  escape,  when  the  latter  again  seized 
it  and  gave  it  several  vicious  digs  with  its  powerful 
jaws.  Query—  Were  these  captive  yellow  ants 
devoured  by  the  reds,  or  were  they  made  the  slaves 
of  the  latter  ?  William  Henry  Warner. 

Kingston^  Abingdon. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Entozoa  in  the  Heart  of  Dogs. — Can  you 
tell  me  if  anything  is  known  of  an  entozoon,  to  all 
appearance  a  strongylus,  which  has  its  habitat  in 
the  hearts  of  dogs  ?  It  is  said  to  be  a  common 
cause  of  death  of  these  animals  out  here,  and  I  have 
had  one  specimen  in  which  the  cavities,  both  auricles 
and  ventricles,  contained  dozens  of  long  worms, 
several  of  them  six  or  eight  inches  in  length,  and  to 
all  appearance  living  bathed  in  the  current  of  blood. 
There  are  no  books  of  reference  out  here  except 
my  own  small  travelling  library;  but  if  the  matter  is 
not  much  known  and  promises  to  be  interesting,  I 
will  endeavour  to  get  more  information  about  it  and 
send  it  to  you.  A  few  words  to  "H.  A."  in  your 
correspondents  page  will  probably  be  sufficient. — 
Henry  Hadlow,  Surgeon  R.E.,  Yokohama,  Japan. 

[It  has  for  a  long  time  been  known  that  nematode 
parasites  infest  the  heart  and  blood-vessels  of  carni- 
vora,  and  especially  of  dogs ;  the  large  species 
found  in  Chinese  dogs  being  the  so-called  Spiroptera 
sanguinolenta.  At  the  last  meeting  of  the  British 
Association,  held  at  Liverpool,  the  subject  was  dis- 
cussed by  Dr.  Cobbold,  who  exhibited  specimens 
forwarded  to  him  by  Mr.  Robert  Swinhoe,  H.B.M. 
Consul  at  Amoy.  Specimens  have  also  been 
brought  over  to  this  country  by  Dr.  Jones  Lamprey ; 
another  series  being  in  the  possession  of  Dr.  Bennett, 
of  Edinburgh.  Remarks,  on  this  parasite  will  be 
found  in  the  Supplement  to  Dr.  Cobbold's  work  on 
Entozoa,  in  the  ninth  volume  of  the  "Linnean 
Society's  Proceedings,"  and  in  the  forthcoming 
Report  of  the  British  Association  for  1870.  The 
distinguished  helminthologistDr.  Metznikoff  having 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  larvae  of  certain 
ascarides  may  be  found  in  external  parasites, 
we  would  suggest  to  our  correspondent  the  pro- 


priety of  microscopically  examining  the  bodies  of 
the  fleas  which  may  be  found  on  the  coats  of  Japa- 
nese dogs.  It  is  supposed  that  when  dogs  are 
worried  by  their  external  parasites  they  seize  and 
swallow  many  of  these  fleas,  and  by  thus  transfer- 
ring their  external  enemies  to  the  interior  of  their 
stomachs,  the  nematode  embryos  resident  in  the 
fleas  are  liberated  by  the  action  of  the  gastric  juice. 
If  this  be  so,  to  destroy  your  outer  enemy  is  to 
create  your  inner  one.  The  subject  is  exceedingly 
curious,  and  well  deserving  of  Mr.  Hadlow's  special 
investigation.] 

Larva  of  the  Cockchafer  (Melolontha  vul- 
garis).— Dr.  Moses  seeks  for  information  about  this 
troublesome  beetle.  I  may  state,  in  brief,  that  the 
eggs  are,  as  might  be  supposed,  deposited  during 
the  summer,  and  hatch  in  about  a  month.  During 
the  remainder  of  that  year,  the  larvae  do  not  in- 
crease much  in  size,  and  keep  together  in  small 
colonies.  Though  they  descend  farther  into  the 
ground  when  winter  sets  in,  it  is  probable  that  they 
do  not  hybernate.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
larval  state  always  lasts  three  years ;  thus  for  in- 
stance, a  larva  hatched  this  summer  would  be  adult 
in  the  autumn  of  1873.  According  to  some  who 
have  investigated  its  economy,  the  larval  condition 
is  occasionally  prolonged  through  another  year. 
Figuier  asserts  that  it  is  only  during  the  second  year 
that  they  commence  their  attacks  upon  the  roots  of 
plants,  feeding  at  first  upon  decaying  vegetable 
matter  and  dung.  In  the  last  year  of  their  growth, 
the  cockchafer  larvae  will  sometimes  attack  the 
roots  of  trees ;  but  to  these  they  appear  to  be  less 
partial,  preferring  those  of  herbaceous  plants. 
While  this  long  larval  life  lasts,  they  pass  through 
many  ecdyses,  or  changes  of  skin.  One  of  the  most 
singular  facts  in  its  history  is  this ;  though  the 
beetle  emerges  from  the  pupa  in  the  autumn  (that 
condition  being  brief  in  its  duration),  it  remains  in 
the  ground  until  spring,  working  its  way  up  by 
degrees.  Hence  sharp  frosts  in  March  and  April 
will  destroy  many  of  them.  It  is  a  matter  of  very 
general  observation  that  there  are  what  are  termed 
"  cockchafer  years,"  when  the  species  is  particu- 
larly abundant.  These  happen  triennially,  as  a  rule, 
which  is  to  be  explained  by  the  history  of  the 
species.—/.  R.  S.  C. 

Hawfinch  [Coccothratistes  vulgaris). — Your  cor- 
respondent Mr.  Anderson  is  wrong  in  supposing  this 
bird  to  be  so  rare  as  he  states  in  the  last  number  of 
the  Gossip.  It  breeds  rather  freely  in  Hereford- 
shire, and  in  some  parts  of  Middlesex,  and  a  season 
never  passes  without  nests  being  found  there.  At 
least  a  dozen  have  occurred  this  spring  to  my 
knowledge.  As  I  am  desirous  of  ascertaining  its 
distribution  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  I  would 
invite  correspondents  to  record  its  occurrence  when 
such  has  come  within  their  own  observation.— C.  A. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


185 


The  Elephant  Parasite.— I  was  much  inter- 
ested by  seeing,  in  the  June  issue  of  the  Gossip,  the 
description  by  a  correspondent  of  a  rare  and  new 
species  of  parasite  from  the  elephant.  Hare  it  cer- 
tainly is,  but  not  altogether  new,  inasmuch  as  I 
have  in  my  possession  some  six  or  eight  specimens, 
which  my  late  father  procured  some  months  ago, 
and  intended  describing  in  his  2nd  vol.  on  Ano- 
plurffi,  but  was  prevented  by  his  sudden  death.  This 
parasite  was  considered  by  him  to  be  an  entirely  new 
one,  and  to  take,  as  far  as  his  examination  of  it  had 
gone,  a  somewhat  intermediate  position  between 
the  Pediculidae  and  the  Cimicidse ;  but  unfortu- 
nately he  had  not  completed  his  examination  and 
description  of  it  when  seized  with  his  last  illness, 
and  so  had  to  leave  this,  along  with  others,  unde- 
scribed,  and  also  the  manuscript  of  his  2nd  vol.  in- 
complete. I  shall  endeavour,  however,  to  secure 
to  the  entomological  world,  and  to  the  lovers  of  this 
unpopular  class  of  insects  in  particular,  the  unpub- 
lished result  of  my  father's  labours  for  the  last  twenty 
years.  The  parasites  in  my  possession  were  kindly 
procured  for  my  father  by  Mr.  Maunders,  from  an 
elephant  in  his  travelling  collection. — T.  G.  Denny, 
Burley  Street,  Leeds. 

Processionary  Moths. — I  have  only  just  dis- 
covered in  your  May  number  (having  been  from 
home)  an  account  of  the  Processionary  Moth.  I 
beg  to  inform  you  that  these  caterpillars  have  made 
periodical  visits  to  my  garden  for  the  last  dozen  or 
fourteen  years.  The  first  year  they  appeared,  we 
caused  our  servant  to  catch  them  ;  and,  being  all  of 
us  ignorant  of  their  urticating  nature,  the  boy 
suffered  as  your  correspondent  describes.  Since 
that  time  we  have  destroyed  many,  but  have  taken 
care  never  to  touch  them.  I  have  heard  of  clothes 
dried  near  the  trees  on  which  the  caterpillars  were, 
becoming  poisonous.  The  Processionaries  are  very 
numerous  this  year,  though  I  have  never  had  the 
luck  to  see  a  procession.  With  us  they  devour 
oak,  elm,  hornbeam,  wild  cherry,  and  even  laurel! 
— Julia  Colsoti,  Sicanage,  Dorset. 

Cat-ology. — A  very  few  instances  of  "  incon- 
gruous attachments  "  have  been  recorded  respecting 
the  cat,  which  in  its  wild  state  is  one  of  the  most 
cruel  and  bloodthirsty  of  the  ferocious  genus  of 
Eelis,  and  even  the  "  tabby "  of  our  venerable 
maiden  aunt,  with  all  its  innocent  purring,  is  a  heart- 
less, sanguinary  beast  (I  speak  feelingly,  one  having 
this  week  decimated  a  valuable  brood  of  our 
chickens !)  Never,  however,  till  the  other  day  did  I 
hear  of  a  cat  acting  as  a  retriever.  A  gentleman,  a 
day  or  two  since,  told  me  the  following  circumstance, 
almost  incredible,  and  which  I  should  not  have 
risked  my  credibility  by  recording  had  not  the  Rev. 
G.  White,  inthat  interesting  little  work,  the  "Natural 
History  of  Selborne,"  mentioned  something  similar, 


and  as  unusual.  The  wife  of  my  friend  has  a  fine 
"  tortoiseshell,"  which  not  only  lies  at  her  feet  by 
the  fire,  but  follows  her  like  a  dog.  In  the  dining- 
room  hangs  a  canary,  which  is  frequently  allowed 
the  liberty  of  flying  about  the  room.  On  the 
occasion  referred  to,  the  window  being  open,  it 
made  its  escape,  and  flew  into  the  neighbouring 
garden.  The  lady,  followed  by  her  favourite  puss, 
went  in  search  of  the  bird,  and  vainly  tried  to  catch 
or  induce  it  to  return  the  way  it  went,  viz.,  through 
the  open  window.  Puss  soon  comprehended  the 
situation,  and  crouching  and  creeping  cautiously, 
feline  like,  made  a  spring  and  caught  it  (nothing 
surprising  so  far).  Instead,  however,  of  putting 
poor  dicky  into  its  maw,  she  brought  it  indoors,  and 
placed  it  in  the  hands  of  her  mistress,  who  was  as 
much  astonished  as  delighted  to  find  scarcely  a 
feather  injured  !  I  may  just  add  that  the  before- 
mentioned  cat  on  the  occasion  of  the  death  of  a  hen, 
had  actually  "nestled  "  a  small  brood  of  chickens. — 
C.  Harvey  Belts,  M.D.,  Gatten  House,  Shanklin. 

More  New  Parasites.— In  the  July  number  of 
the  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,  there  are  two 
parasites  described  by  Mr.  T.  G.  Ponton,  F.Z.S., 
as  new  species.  One  of  these  is  referred  to  the 
sub-genus  Docophorus,  the  other  to  the  genus 
Trichodectes.  Having  been  collecting  and  studying 
these  insects  for  some  years,  I  am  naturally 
interested  in  new  facts  connected  with  my  favourite 
entomological  corner.  1  trust  I  may  therefore 
stand  excused  in  suggesting  the  expediency  of 
some  further  information  about  these  extraordinary 
species.  A  Docophorus  with  single,  and  a  Tricho- 
dectes with  double  tarsal  claws,  are  things  quite  new 
to  me,  and  were  certainly  altogether  unknown  to 
the  late  Mr.  Denny. — H.  C.  Richter,  Kensington. 

Nidification.  —  Two  circumstances  regarding 
the  nidification  of  birds  came  last  month  to  my 
knowledge,  which  seem  to  me  rather  exceptional, 
and  which,  I  think,  might  interest  some  of  your 
readers.  One  was  that  of  a  pair  of  moor-hens 
[Gallinula  chloropus),  which  had  chosen  a  pond,  on 
a  farm  at  Sproroston,  near  the  high  road,  and  close 
to  the  farm  buildings,  between  three  and  four  miles 
from  any  river  or  marsh.  There,  on  an  old  fagot 
placed  to  prevent  the  cattle  entering  the  water, 
they  built  their  nest,  and  reared  a  brood  of  seven 
young  ones.  The  other  was  that  of  a  partridge 
{Perdix  rubra)  on  the  same  farm,  which  had  made 
a  nest  on  the  gable-end  of  an  old  straw-stack, 
eight  feet  from  the  ground,  and  four  feet  from 
the  top,  and  there  also  she  brought  off  her  young 
brood. 

P.S.— One  of  your  correspondents,  in  last  month's 
Science-Gossip,  wishes  to  form  a  list  of  good  local 
flora;  that  of  Norfolk,  by  the  Rev.  Kirby  Trimmer, 
will  prove  all  he  can  desire.— E.  A.,  Noncich. 


186 


HARDWICKE'S    SCI  EN  CE-GOS  SI  P. 


BOTANY. 

Abnormal  Rubus. — Perhaps  the  following  ano- 
malous proliferous  bramble-flower  may  be  worth 
noting,  as  during  many  years'  researches  among  the 
Rubi  I  never  met  with  a  similar  instance  before.  The 
flower  is  one  of  a  short  panicle,  not  the  central  one, 
which  is  abortive,  and  a  secondary  flower  arises  from 
the  centre  of  one  beneath,  which  has  no  styles,  while 
in  the  upper  one  the  styles  are  either  converted 
into  stamens  or  are  abortive.  The  other^fiowers  of 
the  panicle  are  all  regular,  and  show  immature  car- 
pels, though  but  few  in  number.  The  panicle  in 
this  instance  is  short,  and  produced  at  the  base  of  a 
dead  one  of  the  last  year.  This  continuance  of  vi- 
tality in  the  flowering-stem  of  brambles  to  the  third 
year  is  not  often  the  case,  though  I  have  observed  it 
occasionally,  more  especially  in  Rub?is  suberectus, 
whose  barren  shoots  rarely  or  never  take  root,  as  is 
always  the  case  with  the  common  fruticose  Rubi.  The 
individual  from  which  the  proliferous  flower  here 
mentioned  was  taken  belongs  to  the  division  of  the 
smooth-stemmed  Rubi  with  green  leaves,  and  I 
should  refer  it  to  Rubus  Borreri,  as  its  nearest  con- 
gener. The  locality  where  the  bush  (a  very  dwarf 
one)  grew  was  Hartlebury^Common,  near  Stourport. 
— Edwin  Lees,  F.L.S. 

Monstrous  Wallflower. — "H.  D."  sends  from 
Leamington  a  wallflower,  with  the  following  re- 
marks : — "  The  enclosed  is  a  wallflower ;  it  is  the 
second  year  that  it  has  blossomed,  if  bloom  it  can 
be  called,  being  apetalous,  and  the  seed-pods  are 
short  when  ripe,  not  more  than  half  an  inch  long. 
Is  it  a  common  occurrence?" — It  is  not  a  very  com- 
mon occurrence,  and  I  have  never  met  with  a  case 
before  ;  yet  it  has  been  observed  several  times,  and 
Masters,    in    his    "Teratology,"    enumerates    the 
Wallflower  amongst  the  list  of  flowers  in  which  sup- 
pression of  the  petals  has  been  observed.    But  in 
this  particular  specimen  a  still  more  interesting 
change  has  taken  place ;  the  stamens  have  become 
pistils.     In  some  instances  the  change  is  only  par- 
tial, and  we  have  the  stamens  merely  thickened  and 
somewhat  leafy  in  appearance,  but  surmounted  by 
rudely-formed  stigmas  instead  of  being  tipped  with 
anthers.    In  other  stamens  a  further  change  is  ob- 
served ;  the  flattened  stalk  is  rolled  inwards,  and 
we  have  an  approach  to  an  ovary ;  whilst  in  others 
the  change  is  complete,  and  the  stamen-pistils  con- 
tain ovules.    Then  again,  there  are  some  curious 
anomalies  in  the  way  in  which  these  new  pistils  are 
combined.    Some  appear  to  be  free  ;  some  are  more 
or  less  united ;  whilst  in  other  flowers  the  whole 
are  connected,  forming  a  complete  sheath  around 
the  central  ovary.    This  peculiar  monstrosity  is  also 
well  known,  and  is  called  in  scientific   language 
"  pistillody  of  the  stamens."     It  would  seem  to  be 
sufficiently  common  in  the  Wallflower  to  have  in- 


duced De  Candolle  to  look  upon  it  as  a  variety,  and 
to  have  named  it  Cheiranthus  gynantherus.  An 
interesting  account  of  pistillody  of  the  stamens  will 
be  found  in  "  Vegetable  Teratology,"  pp.  302-310, 
with  a  list  of  plants  in  which  it  has  been  observed, 
including  the  Wallflower.  The  present  specimen  is 
interesting  as  combining  with  the  metamorphosis  of 
the  stamens  complete  suppression  of  the  petals. — 
Robert  Holland. 

Fasciation  in  (Enothera  biennis.— This  is  of 
such  common  occurrence  in  the  stalks  of  the  Even- 
ing Primrose  that  it  would  be  hardly  worth  record- 
ing, except  for  a  peculiarity  which  has  arisen  in  an 
example  I  Lave  just  found.  The  stem  of  the  plant 
is  considerably  flattened,  being  apparently  formed  of 
at  least  four  stems  welded  together.  They  are  thus 
united  for  about  a  foot  of  their  length,  when  the 
stem  divides,  each  half  being  completely  surrounded 
with  the  skin,  showing  that  it  is  not  split  acci- 
dentally. Six  or  eight  inches  higher  than  this,  the 
branches  again  divide  for  the  length  of  one  or  two 
inches.  Here  they  are  not  entirely  surrounded  with 
bark,  and  might  have  been  split  accidentally,  but 
for  the  fact  that  they  again  unite,  re-forming  two 
branches  only ;  but  instead  of  the  four  branches 
taking  their  original  position,  they  have  crossed 
over  and  become  welded  into  opposite  stems,  form- 
ing a  complication  very  puzzling  at  first,  but  which 
will,  perhaps,  be  understood  by  the  following 
diagram. 


The  upper  branches,  A  C  and  B  D,  are  each  flattened 
out,  and  are  covered  with  small  bracts,  like  minia- 
ture green  cockscombs.—  Robert  Holland. 

Double  Campanula. — Mr.  Gilbert  B.  Redgrave 
sends  an  interesting  example  of  Campanula  medium, 
the  old-fashioned  Canterbury  Bell,  in  which  the 
corolla  is  double,  one  bell  contained  in  another,  not 
by  the  conversion  of  stamens  into  petals,  but  by 
multiplication  of  parts.  Grindon,  in  "  British  and 
Garden  Botany,"  says  that  the  "hose  in  hose" 
variety  of  this  species  is  not  very  uncommon.  I 
have  seen  it  oftener  in  Campanula  "persicifolia,  in 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOS  SIP. 


LS7 


which  species  the  multiplication  of  petals  often  goes 
on  to  such  an  extent  that  the  flower  becomes  in- 
tensely double,— a  variety  frequently  found  in  cot- 
tage gardens  in  Cheshire,  and  probably  elsewhere. — 
Robert  Holland. 

Ltthkaceje.— In  Science-Gossip  for  April  last, 
Robert  Holland  describes  the  rupturing  of  the 
capsule  of  Cuphea,  and  he  concludes    by   saying, 
"  further  observations  will  be  acceptable."    Many 
thousand  miles  away  from  Cheshire  I  have  watched 
with  the  same  interest  the  opening  capsules    of 
another  variety  of  the  same  genus,  which  I  find 
thus  described  in  my  note-book  on  the  8th  of  June 
last : — "A  number  of  small  suffruticose  plants  may 
be  found  in  almost  every  garden  at  the  military  can- 
tonment, Newcastle,  Jamaica,  4,000  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea.    In  many  cases  it  is  used  as  a 
boundary  or  border,  and  very  well  adapted  it  is, 
being  pretty  and  compact ;  it  is  rather  virgate,  with 
small  ovate-lanceolate,  entire,  exstipulate,  opposite, 
almost    sessile  leaves ;    stem  round ;   inflorescence 
somewhat  racemose.     Flowers    solitary,   on  long 
extra-axillary  peduncles,  vermilion-red   in  colour ; 
monochlamydious ;  calyx  tubular,  about  one  inch  in 
length,  with  a  blunt  spur  at  the  base,  six-divided 
above  the  throat,   two  of  the  lobes    being   much 
larger  than  the  other.    Stamens  11,  viz.,  5  long,  4 
shorter,  and  4  short  inserted  into  the  calycine  tube. 
Ovary  free,  and  in  many  flowers  bursting  through 
the  perianth,  the  seeds  appearing  through  the  semi- 
transparent  pericarp.    The  figure  19357,  Loudon, 
Cuphea  caudata  of  Peru,  best  applies  to  the  New- 
castle shrub.    The  plant  is  in  flower  nearly  all  the 
year  round,  but  this  is  found  to  be  the  case  with 
many  other  flowers  growing  in  equable  climates. 
The  derivation  of  the  name    Cuphea,   viz.  Kvcpog, 
curved,  implies  that  the  method  of  dehiscence,  the 
bending  back  of  the  placeuta,  is  an  essential  property 
of  the  genus,  although  it  is  not  given  as  such  in  the 
Botanies  I  have  been  able  to  consult.     Only  for  the 
measurements  (calyx  3'",  petals  1"')  given  by  Greise- 
bach,  1  would  say  the  plant  I  have  described  was 
the  C.  hyssopifolia."  The  second  plant  of  this  family 
which  I  noticed  in  Jamaica,  was  the  elegant  Lager- 
strcemia,  the  local  name  of  which  is  Jamaica  Crape. 
I  find  a  note  of  it  on  the  25th  June  last.    It  belongs 
to  the  class  and    order  Polyandria,   Monogynia : 
calyx  campanulate,  6-cleft,   petals  6,  unguiculate, 
rose-coloured,  curved,  and  very  much  crumpled,  like 
lace ;  a  character  which  contributes  greatly  to  the 
beauty  of  the  tree.     Stamens  many,  of  which  the 
outer  6  are  largest.     Capsule  many-seeded ;  height 
of  tree  above  12  feet.    The  terminal  branches  are 
tetragonal,  with  winged  angles,  the  leaves  are  gla- 
brous, and  the  terminal  panicle  of  flowers  is  made 
up  of  axillary  peduncles.     I  believe  I  am  correct  in 
naming    this    tree    L.    indica,   or  the    "King  of 
Flowers."      The  third  plant    of  the  family  that 


I  have  examined  in  the  West  Indies  is  the 
Laicsonia  i/iermis,  known  in  Barbadoes  as  Jamaica 
mignonette ;  but  it  is  better  generally  known  as 
Henna,  or  Al  Khaana.  It  is  a  dwarf  shrub,  and 
its  powdered  leaves  are  used  to  dye  the  hands  of 
Eastern  ladies,  an  accession  to  their  charms  which 
other  people  regard  with  the  same  prejudice  that 
they  feel  for  the  Chinese  custom  of  distorting  young 
women's  feet.  I  first  saw  this  shrub  in  Barbadoes, 
and  it  at  once  reminded  me  of  Lagerstroemia,  the 
petals  being  of  the  same  crape-like  appearance, 
but  white.  The  inflorescence  a  terminal  panicle, 
and  the  branchlets  tetragonal  and  winged.  Its  sym- 
metry, however,  is  tetramerous ;  stamens  8.  There 
are  a  few  more  Loosestrifes  to  be  found  in  the  West 
Indies,  but  I  have  not  seen  them.  If  any  of  your 
readers  are  sufficiently  interested  in  the  family,  I 
will  be  glad  to  be  introduced  to  the  other  members. 
— /.  P.  II.  Boileau,  M.B.,  Bardadoes. 

Local  Floras  (p.  163).— I  quite  agree  with 
"F.  A.  L."  that  we  should  not  "take  on  trust  from 
another  what  a  little  patience  and  trouble  would 
ascertain  for  certain."  A  very  "  little  trouble  "  in- 
deed would,  for  instance,  enable  any  reader  to 
"  ascertain  for  certain"  that  the  work  censured  by 
"F.  A.  L."  is  not  the  "  Cybele"  at  all,  which  con- 
tains very  few  "exact  localities,"  and  has  been 
brought  by  its  author  nearly  up  to  present  date. 
The  work  referred  to  is  probably  the  "  New  Bota- 
nists' Guide  "  of  the  same  author.  It  is,  of  course, 
possible  that  I  may  be  in  error  in  this  supposition, 
as  "it  is  comparatively  difficult  to  prove  a  negative;" 
but  the  "  Cybele  "  certainly,  in  no  way  corresponds 
with  "  F.  A.  L.'s  "  description.  Very  few,  except 
"  practical  working  botanists,"  would  undertake  the 
amount  of  labour  which  "  the  production  of  a  local 
flora"  entails;  so  I  would  hope  that  "F.  A.  L.'s" 
strictures  upon  compilers  are  capable  of  modification. 
— James  Britten. 

Monstrous  Opiiioglossum  vttlgatum:. —  "W. 
G.,  Belfast,"  has  forwarded  an  interesting  frond  of 
this  fern,  in  which  there  are  three  fertile  spikes ; 
or  more  correctly,  the  spike  is  divided  into  three 
branches.  Two  of  the  branches  also  show  an  indi- 
cation of  further  division.  All  ferns  are  prone  to 
become  forked,  and  we  have  met  with  similar  ex- 
amples before,  both  in  Ophioglossum  and  in  Botry- 
chium. 

Pine-apple  (p.  139).— I  am  much  obliged  to 
"  M.  Q.  M.  C"  for  the  drawing  of  the  crest  referred 
to  in  his  note  to  Science-Gossip.  The  "  pine- 
apples "  carried  in  the  raven's  beak  are  very  con- 
ventional imitations  of  nature,  and  look,  perhaps, 
more  like  rose-hips  than  like  either  fir-cones  or  the 
fruit  of  Ananassa.  Still  I  think  that,  for  the  reasons 
already  stated,  the  cones  of  some  kind  of  fir-tree  are 
intended. — Robert  Holland. 


18S 


HAUDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Scale  of  Barbel  (Barbus  fluviatilis). — Wc 
give  herewith  a  figure  of  the  very  characteristic 
scale  of  the  Barbel.  There  are  yet  a  few  other 
scales  required  to  complete  our  series,  and  we  should 
be  glad  to  receive  thoroughly  authenticated  speci- 
mens for  that  purpose. 


Fig.  106.  Scale  of  Barbel. 

Movable  Table. — A  description  is  given  in  the 
May  number  of  Science-Gossip  of  a  simple  and 
convenient  movable  table  or  stand  for  carrying  both 
ihe  microscope  and  lamp,  so  that  they  can  be  moved 
about  together  without  disturbing  the  adjustment  of 
1  he  illumination  ;  and  it  may  be  of  interest  to  add  a 
description  of  another  on  a  similar  plan  that  I  have 
found  very  satisfactory.  It  is  a  circular  flat  tray, 
eighteen  inches  diameter,  and  about  a  quarter  of  an 
inch  thick,  made  of  two  or  three  thicknesses  of  mill- 
hoard  cut  to  the  circle  and  pasted  together,  and 
covered  on  one  side  with  black  glazed  paper,  and  on 
1  he  other  side  with  cloth  or  baize  (using  paste 
mixed  with  a  little  glue).  The  glazed  paper  is  cut 
to  a  larger  circle,  and  turned  over  the  edge  on  to 
1  he  other  side  before  the  cloth  is  put  on,  making  a 
neat  finish.    This  stand  is  light  and  conveniently 


portable,  audi  has  been'  jfound  free  from  Jrisk  of 
warping  or  injury  in  several  years'  use.  At  a  micro- 
scopical soiree  a  number  of  these  stands  have  been 
used  with  decided  advantage,  each  microscope  with 
its  lamp  being  on  a  separate  one,  so  that  the  exhi- 
bitors stationed  at  the  back  of  the  line  of  tables 
were  enabled  to  adjust  any  instrument  or  change 
the  object  exhibited  whenever  desired,  by  turning 
round  the  stand,  without  interfering  with  the  line 
of  observers  in  front  of  the  tables. — William 
P.  Marshall. 

British  Diatomace^e. —  We  are  glad  to  see  that 
the  second  part  of  Dr.  Doukin's  work  on  the  Brit- 
ish Diatomacese  has  made  its  appearance,  and  we 
trust  that  now  there  will  be  no  delay  in  its  regular 
issue. 

Monthly  Microscopical  Journal.— The  com- 
pletion of  the  fifth  volume  of  this  indispensable 
journal,  and  the  commencement  of  a  sixth  with  the 
July  number,  offers  an  opportunity  for  all  micro- 
scopists  who  have  not  already  done  so,  to  order  and 
obtain  it  monthly.     Make  a  note  of  it ! 

iEciDiUM  statices.— In  Science-Gossip  for  last 
month  you  make  mention  of  a  cluster-cup  {JEcidium 
statices)  new  to  Britain,  found  by  Mr.  B.  S.  Hill, 
of  Basingstoke.  This  discovery  was  reported  to 
the  Winchester  and  Hampshire  Scientific  and  Lite- 
rary Society  at  its  last  meeting.  The  cluster-cup 
was  found  on  the  sea-lavender  growing  on  the 
shores  of  the  Solent,  the  plant  infested  covering 
acres  of  ground.  Since  then  I  have  found  the 
same  fungus,  and  with  it  the  characteristic  Uredine 
(Uredo  statices)  in  large  quantities  near  Hythe ; 
the  plant  infested  fringed  the  low  muddy  shores  of 
the  Southampton  Water  for  miles.  I  ask  the  inser- 
tion of  this,  as  the  locality  was  given  near  Basing- 
stoke, which  town  is  twenty-five  miles  inland. — 
Arthur  Angell,  Jim. 

[It  was  also  found  plentifully  last  June  at  Walney 
Island,  and  has  been  sent  us  by  two  correspondents 
from  Lancashire. — Ed.  S.-G.] 


Handbook  of  British  Eungi.— This  work  is 
now  ready  for  delivery  to  subscribers  complete,  and 
will  be  in  the  publisher's  hands  by  the  time  this 
journal  appears.  It  is  in  two  volumes,  extending 
to  near  1,000  pages,  containing  upwards  of  400 
illustrations,  and  will  be  indispensable  to  all  students 
of  fungi.  Subscribers  who  have  not  paid  their  sub- 
scriptions are  invited  to  do  so  forthwith,  including 
one  shilling  fur  postage.  Subscription  copies  not 
claimed  before  the  1st  of  October  will  be  charged 
at  the  full  price.  Post-office  orders  to  be  made  pay- 
able at  Charing  Cross. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  IE  N  CE-  GOS  S  I  P. 


1S9 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Otter  —  On  the  30th  May  a  fine  do?  otter, 
weighing  nearly  25  lb.,  was  killed  on  the  Esk,  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Longton,  Cumberland.— 
G.  H.  H. 

The  Missel-Thrush  versus  Squirrel. — I  have 
read  with  much  pleasure  and  amusement  the  Rev. 
R.  Blight's  graphic  account  of  the  battle  between 
the  Missel-Thrush  and  the  Squirrel.  The  cause  of 
the  squirrel's  visit  to  the  thrush's  nest  can  easily 
be  explained,  and  the  lady's  vindictive  conduct  ac- 
counted for  most  legitimately.  The  squirrel  is  a 
most  inveterate  egg-sucker,  and  many  gentlemen 
who  wish  to  preserve  their  game  are  obliged,  like 
the  thrush,  to  wage  war  against  the  squirrel.  I 
first  learnt  the  squirrel's  egg-sucking  propensities 
some  time  ago,  when  I  was  visiting  with  my  father 
at  the  house  of  a  well-known  sporting  gentleman, 
one  who  is  a  great  lover  of  animal  life,  passionately 
fond  of  nature  in  all  its  aspects,  and  who  would  not 
destroy  one  living  creature  unless  obliged  to  do  so 
from  sheer  necessity.  Passing  through  the  lovely 
woods,  which  surround  one  of  the  most  charming 
country  seats  in  Dorset,  and  viewing  the  land- 
scapes from  the  most  advantageous  points,  my  at- 
tention was  directed  to  some  lovely  specimens  of 
American  wood  ducks,  and  rare  acclimatized  aquatic 
birds,  which  were  flocking  towards  the  banks  of  a 
beautiful  lakelet,  to  welcome  with  the  most  pecu- 
liar cries  the  advent  of  their  master,  to  whom  they 
were  particularly  attached  ;  I  noticed  on  thebranch 
of  a  tall  oak  overhead,  a  little  squirrel  playing  the 
most  droll  antics.  I  turned  from  the  feathered  pets 
to  admire  the  grace  and  agility  of  the  exquisite 
native  of  our  woods.  At  last  I  called  the  attention 
of  our  host  to  the  pretty  creature.  "  I  am  sorry 
you  have  shown  it  to  me,"  he  remarked  in  a  voice 
of  pity.  "  Why,"  I  asked  wonderingly.  "  Simply 
because  I  shall  have  to  destroy  the  pretty  little 
animal  you  so  much  admire."  He  raised  his  gun 
and  fired.  Alas  poor  Squirrel !  it  lay  dead  at  our 
feet ;  and  it  had  been  so  joyous,  so  happy  a  moment 
previously.  I  was  astonished,  and  begged  for  an 
explanation.  "The  squirrels  have  eaten  so  many 
of  my  pheasants'  eggs,"  said  our  kind  host,  "that, 
much  as  it  pains  me,  I  am  obliged  to  wage  war  with 
them.  Last  spring  my  keepers  had  great  trouble 
with  them,  and  the  eggs  suffered  very  much  from 
their  depredations,  harmless  as  they  look."  Most 
probably  this  will  account  for  Mrs.  Thrush's  pug- 
nacity.— Barbara  Wallace  Fyfe. 

Hemp-Agrimony.— I  am  sorry  that  I  overlooked 
Mr.  Britten's  question,  until  too  late  I  fear,  for  my 
reply  to  find  room  in  Science-Gossip  for  July. 
No!  I  did  not  mean  "  Agrimony."  I  wrote,  as  it 
was  printed,  "  Hemp- Agrimony ; "  but  ground  vine 
is  a  misprint, — it  should  have  been  ground  pine,  as 
Mr.  Britten  opines.  The  Hemp-Agrimony  has 
medicinal  properties  as  well  as  Agrimony  ;  but  of  a 
different  kind.  It  is  used  in  intermittent  fevers 
(more  perhaps  abroad  than  in  this  country).  The 
country  people  make  tea  of  it ;  I  do  not  believe  that 
it  has  any  poisonous  properties,  but  I  do  know  that 
it  should"  be  taken  cautiously,  as  over-doses  are  apt 
to  produce  sickness  and  other  disagreeable  effects. 
Every  portion  of  the  plant  is  exceedingly  bitter,  but 
most  especially  so  are  the  leaves.  It  is  the  "  Rustico- 
rum  Panacea  "  of  some  old  writers ;  Agrimony  is 
the  herb  so  often  called  "  Liverwort,"  in  allusion  to 


the  beneficial  effect  it  produces  in  all  affections  of 
that  organ :  the  scent  of  the  flowers  is  rather  agree- 
able, that  of  Hemp-Agrimony  quite  the  reverse  :  few 
persons  can  mistake  the  one  for  the  other.  Agri- 
mony has  yellow  flowers,  Hemp-Agrimony  purple  ; 
and  the  long  stiff  hairs,  hooked  at  the  end,  which 
surround  the  fruit  of  the  former,  are  very  curious 
indeed ;  they  cause  the  seeds  to  stick  to  one's  clothes 
like  a     clot-bur"  does. — Helen  E.  Watney. 

Pish  of  the  Jordan.— "H.  C.  S.  S."  will  find 
some  information  about  the  fish  of  the  Jordan  in 
Tristram's  "Natural  History  of  the  Bible."—/. 

Absinthe. — In  the  May  number  of  Science- 
Gossip,  Mrs.  Watney  says  she  believes  that  absinthe, 
which  is  such  a  favourite  beverage  of  the  Parisians, 
is  made  from  Artemisia  Absinthium.  I  find,  on  re- 
ference to  Chambers's  "  Encyclopaedia,"  that  it  is 
obtained  from  Artemisia  Mutellina,  A.  glacialis,  A. 
rupestris,  A.  spicata,  &c,  which  are  low-growing 
species  found  on  the  Alps,  and  known  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Alps  by  the  name  of  Genipi. — L.  S. 

Moths  wanted. — I  wish  to  get  the  following 
moths: — 1.  Death's-head  Moth  (Acheronta  atropos), 
larva,  pupa,  and  imago ;  2.  Goat-moth  (Cossus 
ligniperda),  larva;  3.  Privet  Hawk-moth  {Sphinx 
ligustri),  larva.  Several  specimens  of  each,  pre- 
served in  spirit  or  otherwise,  in  order  to  be  fit  for 
dissection.  Could  you  tell  me  how  I  can  procure 
them?  They  are  the  illustrative  preparation  given 
in  Rolleston's  "Porms  of  Animal_  Life."  I  shall 
be  very  glad  to  pny  or  exchange  objects  for  them. — 
W.  C.  Crawford,  24,  Gayfield  Square,  Edinburgh. 

Yellow  Rain.  —  Shortly  after  my  arrival  at 
Yokohama,  Japan,  in  April,  1870,  we  had  two  days 
of  strong  wind  and  very  heavy  and  continuous  rain, 
and  it  was  observed  that  the  rain  brought  down 
with  it  quantities  of  lightish  yellow  pulverulent-look- 
ing material,  which  was  thickly  deposited  in  gutters, 
rain-tubs,  surface  collections  of  water,  and  on  the 
less-exposed  portions  of  the  ground,  as  a  lemon- 
coloured  scum.  An  appearance  so  unusual  excited 
much  surprise  and  some  little  alarm,  as  it  was  popu- 
larly believed  that  the  yellow  deposit  was  sulphur, 
and  that  it  betokened  some  volcanic  outburst  in  the 
neighbourhood,  especially  as  earthquakes  had  been 
more  than  usually  frequent,  and  the  active  volcano 
of  Vries  had  evinced  signs  of  disturbance.  The 
microscope,  however,  showed  it  to  be  a  harmless 
pollen,  but  I  was  unable  to  determine  from  what 
plant  until  the  present  spring,  when  I  found  that 
by  gently  shaking  the  male  catkins  of  the  common 
firs  {Pinus  Massoniana  and  perhaps  Pinus  clensi- 
flora),  which  grow  abundantly  on  alt  the  little  hills 
and  bluffs  around  Yokohama  and  were  then  in 
flower,  I  could  obtain  the  colouring  matter  of  the 
"  yellow  rain  "  at  pleasure.  The  form  of  the  pollen 
so  shaken  from  the  tree  is  quite  distinctive;  it 
shows  a  more  or  less  hemispherical  central  portion, 
with  two  rounded  prominences  projecting  from  its 
flatter  side ;  its  appearance  in  profile  being  kidney- 
shaped,  and  it  forms  a  pretty  opaque  object  with  the 
binocular.  The  quantity  of  it  brought  down  by  the 
rain  and  wind  of  last  year  must  have  been  very 
great. — H.  R.,  Yokohama. 

Earth-worms.— Instead  of  the  very  dangerous 
and  somewhat  expensive  poison,  corrosive  sub- 
limate, allow  me  to  recommend  to  your  readers  the 
use  of  freshly-prepared  lime-water.  I  have  tried 
both,  and  in  effect  give  the  lime-water  the  pre- 


190 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


ference.  It  is  really  remarkable  to  see  bow  quickly 
the  worms  rise  to  the  surfaee,  and  remain  there 
quite  long  enough  to  be  swept  up.  1  am  not  sure 
if  it  will  kill  them.  Our  practice  is  to  water  the 
lawns  with  lime-water  from  an  ordinary  watering- 
pot,  going  systematically  over  the  lawn,  watering 
somewhat  heavily.  As  the  worms  come  up,  they  are 
gathered,— there  is  no  difficulty  in  catching  them, 
and  given  to  the  poultry.  The  lime-water  has 
never  injured  the  grass,  «  hereas  I  have  more  than 
once  done  damage  to  it  with  corrosive  sublimate. 
Black-beetles  are  a  difficulty.  Poison,  if  numerous, 
causes  offence,  from  their  dead  bodies  behind  wains- 
coting, &c.  Traps  (Colin  Pullinger's  I  prefer) 
seem  the  best.  Can  any  of  your  correspondents 
name  a  good  bait  ?  I  use  bread  steeped  in  ale.  It 
is  not  bad,  but  is  not  sufficiently  attractive.  If 
some  of  your  entomological  correspondents  could 
help  us  to  bait  Colin  Pullinger's  beetle-traps,  I 
think  we  should  beat  the  cockroaches. — Henry 
Beacon. 

Destruction  of  Cockroaches.  —  I  am  very 
glad  to  be  able  to  tell  Mr.  Verney  a  certain  yet 
simple  cure  for  these  unwelcome  guests,  one  that  I 
have  tried,  and  never  known  to  fail.  Take  a  deep 
dish,  with  smooth  upright  sides,  say  a  very  large 
pie-dish ;  put  into  it  about  two  inches  deep  of  beer 
or  porter,  sweetened  with  sugar.  Threepennyworth 
of  ;arsenic  will  be  about  sufficient  to  last  four  or 
five  times,  if  measured  out  into  equal  portions. 
Slantingly  from  the  edge  of  the  dish  to  the  floor  lay 
a  coarse  towel  dipped  in  beer  and  sugar,  so  as  to 
form  an  easy  pathway  into  the  trap,  which,  if  set 
at  night,  will  be  found  to  contain  many  captives 
before  morning.  We  have  quite  relieved  our  house 
from  cockroaches,  and  many  of  our  neighbours  who 
have  adopted  the  plan  I  have  just  mentioned,  have 
made  a  clearance  of  large  families  of  these  pests. — 
Barbara  Wallace  Fyfe,  Nottingham. 

[Another  correspondent  (C.  B.)  recommends 
Penny's  Magic  Paste.  Others  recommend  reme- 
dies too  numerous  to  mention,  and  all  are  war- 
ranted.] 

Public  Insectakiums. — There  is  one  branch  of 
Natural  History  that  is  very  generally  neglected, 
and  totally  so  as  regards  the  exhibition  of  insects  at 
our  great  Zoological  Gardens  in  the  Regent's  Park. 
The  insect  world  is  a  department  of  Natural  History 
inferior  to  none,  and,  perhaps,  superior  in  interest 
to  many  others.  An  insectarium,  or  entomologium, 
or  by  any  other,  if  more  fitting,  title  designated, 
could  be  made  on  a  large  and  comprehensive 
scale,  and  at  much  less  cost,  and,  as  I  think, 
would  cause  much  less  labour  to  such  of  the 
keepers  or  attendants  of  our  Zoological  Gardens  in 
the  Regent's  Park  who  would  have  charge  of  them, 
than  any  other  of  the  creature  kind  in  that  exhi- 
bition. I  have  been  always  a  great  lover  of  ento- 
mology, although  I  do  not  pretend  to  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  habits,  &c,  of  the  insect 
world.  Yet,  as  a  true  lover  of  all  branches  of 
Natural  History,  I  am,  perhaps,  better  informed 
upon  entomology  than  the  majority  of  persons. 
After  reading  an  article  (or  paragraph  rather)  in 
Hardwicke's  Science-Gossip  for  April,  1871,  en- 
titled "New  Introductions,"  it  occurred  to  me  that 
we  might  acclimatize  many  beautiful  as  well  as 
marvellous  forms  of  butterflies  and  moths,  &c,  so 
as  to  exhibit  them  in  a  somewhat  natural  state  in  a 
grand  "Insectarium,"  or  "Entomologium,"  house. 
I  conceive  that  an  insectarium,  &c,  would  be,  pro- 
bably, as  attractive,  if  not  more  so,  than  other 


branches  of  Natural  History,  and  I  therefore  urge 
that  a  tide  of  public  opinion  may  be  impelled,  that 
may  lead  to  the  erection  of  an  extensive  and 
spacious  or  lofty  building,  for  the  "insect  world," 
where  we  may  study  these  smaller  winged  and  un- 
winged  creatures  on  an  extended  scale.  We  could 
have  a  hothouse  insectarium,  and  also  a  temperate- 
house  insectarium,  &c,  in  accordance  with  the 
habitat  or  countries  of  insect  creatures.  But  the 
insects  of  North  America,  of  China,  Japan,  and 
other  countries  which  possess  a  similar  climate  or 
temperature  of  seasons  to  our  own  England,  could 
be  reared  in  houses  of  an  ordinary  temperature.  I 
am  not  capable  of  devising  the  shape  or  structural 
arrangements  of  an  insectarium,  yet  I  would  sug- 
gest that  the  floor  of  an  insectarium  should  be  on  a 
level  with  a  man's  or  attendant's  arms,  so  that  the 
food  and  other  necessary  adjuncts  could  be  put  in 
easily,  and  without  injury  or  annoyance  to  such 
delicate  and  small  creatures.  And  a  central  wind- 
ing staircase  might  be  usefully  made,  that  would 
enable  the  attendants  to  feed  insects  to  which  the 
upper  regions  of  an  insectarium  were  most  con- 
genial. The  insectarium  should  be  lofty,  in  order 
to  give  butterflies,  moths,  &c.,  the  fullest  space  and 
enjoyment  of  their  aerial  flights.  Trees,  plants,  &c, 
of  the  kinds  upon  which  insects  variously  feed, 
should  be  planted,  either  temporarily  or  perma- 
nently, in  the  insectarium  cages ;  and  thus  we  could 
study  the  habits  and  actions  of  insects  more  per- 
fectly than  we  can  by  our  private  researches  and 
contrivances. —  W.  M.  Macpherson. 

Flint  Elakes,  Machine-made. — The  exist 
ence  of  "Palaeolithic  man"  in  the  dim  obscurity  of 
far- back  ages  has  been  so  strongly  asserted  and  so 
stoutly  maintained  by  our  advanced  men  of  science, 
that  the  judgment  of  the  uninitiated  has  rather  been 
taken  by  storm,  than  convinced  by  the  weight  of  the 
evidence  on  which  this  extreme  antiquity  is  founded. 
This  evidence  is  mainly  derived  from  the  chipped 
flint  "  tools  "  of  the  first  stone  age,  of  which  the 
flakes  form  by  far  the  largest  portion.  Of  these  it  is 
affirmed  that  the  evidence  of  design  is  soclear  "  that  a 
flint  flake  is  to  the  antiquary  as  sure  a  trace  of  man  as 
the  foot-print  in  the  sand  was  to  Robinson  Crusoe." 
On  the  other  hand  it  has  been  affirmed  that  flakes 
result  from  the  fracture  of  the  flint  by  natural 
causes.  I  can  produce  a  truthful  witness  in  this 
case,  whose  testimony  is  unimpeachable  and  de- 
serves to  be  widely  known.  My  contractor  for  the 
construction  of  roads  at  Eastbourne  uses  Blake's 
stone-breaking  machine  for  preparing  the  metalling, 
composed  of  a  large  cast-iron  jaw  worked  by  a 
steam-engine,  by  which  the  flints  are  crushed  as 
fast  as  two  men  can  feed  the  machine.  Erom 
among  these  crushed  flints  I  have  picked  out  most 
typical  and  perfectly  formed  flakes,  some  so  small 
as  to  require  a  glass  to  determine  their  claim  to  the 
honour  of  being  flakes,  with  intermediate  sizes  up  to 
five  inches  in  length :— flake  knives,  scrapers,  and 
cores.  I  have  inspected  most  of  the  flint-finds  from 
the  Scilly  Isles  to  Norfolk,  and  on  the  Continent 
from  Spiennes  to  Pressigny  le  Grand,  but  1  have  no- 
where met  with  more  perfect  flakes  as  to  type  than 
those  crushed  out  by  the  stone- breaker.  JVI  any  of  the 
cores  also  are  very  perfect,  being  surrounded  by  six 
facets,  from  whence  flakes  were  crushed  off  by  one 
undesigned  blow.  1  f  flint  under  ordinary  pressure 
splits  naturally  into  flakes  and  cores,  how  is  it  pos- 
sible to  maintain  the  supposed  evidence  of  design 
on  the  flakes,  and  therefore  of  a  designer?  There 
is  no  intellect  in  a  ton  of  east  iron;  no  volition  in 
a  steam-engine.    It  is  highly  probable  that  some 


HARDWICKE'S    SCI  EN  C  E-GOSSI  P. 


191 


flakes  were  made  and  used  by  savage  man,  but  be- 
fore any  firm  reliance  can  be  placed  on  some  of  the 
evidence  lately  put  forward  ir  support  of  Palaeo- 
lithic man,  we  must  rn.cn  to  distinguish  between 
false  and  true  weapons,— between  those  formed 
bv  natural  causes  and  those  made  by  man. — Nichs. 
Whitley,  C.F.,  Truro. 

White  Varieties.—  The  other  day  I  gathered  on 
the  borders  of  a  wood  near  here  Fchium  mdgare  and 
Orchis  pyramidalis,  with  perfectly  white  flowers ;  and, 
on  a  down  near,  a  specimen  of  Thymus  chameedrys, 
also  with  white  flowers,  and  having  the  leaves  much 
lighter  green  and  more  delicate  than  usual.  As 
neither  of  these  species  is  commonly  found  with 
white  flowers,  perhaps  you  will  consider  the  above 
instances  worth  recording. — F.  I.  W.,  Winchester. 

Cleansing-  Skeletons  (page  1G5).  —  I  have 
heard,  but  cannot  speak  from  experience,  that  the 
larva?  of  the  Dermestes  (I  think  D.  nmritms)  clean 
small  skeletons,  such  as  rats,  birds,  &c,  in  a  much 
neater  and  better  manner  than  ants.  The  animal 
should  be  skinned,  soaked  in  water  to  get  rid  of  the 
blood,  then  dried  and  put  in  a  box  with  the  larvae. 
— &  P.  P. 

Cleaning  Skeletons. — I  have  never  succeeded 
in  getting  a  skeleton  perfectly  and  neatly  cleaned 
by  ants.  Unless  very  hungry,  they  only  care  for 
moist  substances;  and  for  this  reason  I  have  al- 
ways found  that  they  will  desert  a  specimen  as  soon 
as  it  has  begun  to  shrivel  and  dry  up,  and  the  bones 
in  consequence  are  left,  covered  with  hard,  black, 
and  unsightly  remnants  of  flesh.  The  method 
which  I  have  found  the  most  successful  is  this  : — If 
the  object  is  very  large,  I  bury  it  in  a  box,  and 
there  leave  it  until  all  the  flesh  is  reduced  to  a 
pulp.  This  I  wash  and  scrub  off.  and  subsequently 
bleach  the  preparation  in  the  sun  until  it  is  perfectly 
white.  If  the  object  is  small,  I  macerate  it  in  a  de- 
coction of  water  and  blood,  by  which  method  you 
can  constantly  keep  the  specimen  under  observation, 
so  that  you  can  remove  it  immediately  the  flesh  is 
properly  dissolved,  and  before  the  harder  ligaments 
have  separated.  If  you  hit  the  right  time,  you  will 
have  the  skeleton  naturally  joined  together  without 
the  intervention  of  wire  fastening.  It  is  advisable 
occasionally  to  change  the  mixture  of  water  and 
blood,  and  if  the  water  is  sometimes  added  warm 
instead  of  cold,  it  will  hasten  the  process.  You 
should  clean  off  as  much  flesh  as  is  possible  before 
you  commence  the  maceration. — Edward  Fentone 
Elwin,  Booton,  Nomich. 

Gnats.— The  communication  of  your  correspon- 
dent "T.  T.  S."  (p.  162)  is  indeed  deeply  interest- 
ing. The  statement  of  an  erroneous  deduction  is 
the  less  to  be  regretted  when  it  elicits  such  an 
answer.  It  is  now  clear  that  the  Gnat  is  able  to 
drive  its  weapon  to  the  hilt  when  it  has  the  oppor- 
tunity, and  to  bend  the«scabbard  in  so  doing.  The 
exact  observation  of  the  great  French  philosopher 
is  fully  vindicated.  Judging,  however,  from  the 
structure  of  the  proboscis,  and  the  known  quiet 
habits  of  the  sly  English  gnat,  it  still  seems  probable 
that  it  often  gets  all  it  wants  by  a  slighter  incision, 
and  not  by  the  violent  method  of  its  fiercer  and 
bolder  sisters  of  the  Red  River  Settlements. — S.  S. 

White  Strawberry. — A  large  bed  of  the  Wild 
Strawberry  (F.  vesca)  on  a  bank  near  this,  has  all 
the  fruit  white,  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three 
plants  which  are  red :  is  this  a  common  occurrence  ? 
— W.  D.  It.,  Dalbeattie,  N.B. 


Transmission  of  Natural  History  Specimens 
by  Post. — On  the  1st  August,  after  an  interval  of 
ten  months,  the  advantage  of  cheap  transmission  of 
natural  history  specimens  will  be  restored.  The 
rates  for  letters  and  samples  will  be  the  same  ;  and 
although,  as  compared  with  the  old  sample  post, 
the  rates  (especially  for  small  packets)  will  be 
higher,  the  increase  will  be  compensated  by  the 
advantage  of  being  able  to  send  specimens  fully 
packed  and  sealed  up,  and  to  enclose  a  letter  in 
the  same  cover.  The  new  rates  will  be — under 
1  oz.,  Id.  ;  under  2oz.,  lfd.;  under  4oz.,  2d.;  and 
then  id.  for  every  additional  2  oz.  up  to  12  oz.,  which 
is  the  limit  —G.'H.  H. 

Heartsease. —  Mrs.  Watney's  notice  of  the 
above  flower  on  pa<?e  163  of  last  number  furnishes 
a  remarkable  coincidence  of  a  common  name  in 
countries  remote  from  each  other,  indicating,  no 
doubt,  a  common  derivation.  The  plant  (Viola  tri- 
color) in  Danish  stifmoder  blomst,  or  in  the  Welsh 
called  Mam  yn  gyfraith,  or  the  Mother-in-law.  This- 
at  least  is  very  curious,  and  it  may  interest  and 
amuse  Mrs.  Watney  by  ascertaining  the  above  facts 
from  her  neighbours  at  Bnyn  Hyfrid.  The  Welsh 
names  for  many  plants  are  quaint  and  often  highly 
poetical.  Llys  y  Drindod,  or  "  Trinity  herb,"  is  the 
"  Book  "  name  for  the  above  plant. — T.  W. 

Books  upon  British  Coleoptera  —  " R.  G." 
inquires  about  works  on  the  above  order  in  the  July 
number  of  Science-Gossip.  He  would  find  Rye's 
"British  Beetles,"  though  modestly  called _ by  its 
author  only  "an  Introduction,"  very  helpful  indeed, 
the  figures  being  admirable.  Of  course,  it  only  con- 
tains a  selection.  Janson's  "British  Beetles  "is 
taken  from  the  noted  work  of  Curtis,  revised  to  the 
date  of  publication  (1863),  and  this  also  has  well- 
executed  figures,  about  260  in  number.  Besides 
Stephens's  well-known  "Manual,"  published  thirty- 
three  years  ago,  and  therefore  not  now  to  be  entirely 
trusted  to,  there  is  a  work  useful  for  reference, 
which  appeared  a  year  or  two  after.  This  is  en- 
titled "Spry  &  Shuckard's  Coleoptera  delineated," 
and  has  100  plates,  each  with  many  specimens,  and 
gives  types  of  every  genus.  The  authors  were,  un- 
fortunately, hardly  up  to  the  task  they  undertook, 
so  their  observations  must  be  cautiously  received. 
A  curious  old  book  by  Thomas  Martyn,  giving  an 
account  of  500  species,  with  figures  (date  1792), 
mav  be  picked  up  occasionally  at  a  book-stall. —  « 
/.  R.  S.  C. 

Luminosity  oe  Plants. — As  I  see  no  further 
paper  on  this  subject  in  the  July  number  of  Science- 
Gossif,  I  venture  to  express  my  belief  that  in  the 
cases  of  red  geraniums,  marigolds,  and  some  other 
plants,  the  flashes  of  light  seen  are  optical  de- 
ceptions. The  light  is  not  seen  in  the  dark,  but 
only  in  the  dusk,  when  the  fading  light  is  somewhat 
confusing.  The  light  of  the  plant,  if  real,  should 
certainly  be  brighter  in  the  dark,  instead  of  not 
being  then  at  all  visible.  Again,  I  always  find,  and 
should  be  glad  to  know  if  others  do,  that  if  the  eye 
is  fixed  upon  a  particular  flower,  the  flashes  are 
not  seen,  while  they  are  very  visible  the  moment 
the  eye  is,  as  it  were,  loosened  and  allowed  fco  wan- 
der over  the  flowers.  And  then,  as  far  as  I  can 
make  out, — and  I  am  constantly  trying,  the  flashes 
never  come  to  the  eye  straight,  but  always  at  an 
angle  with  the  axis  of  the  pupil.  Very  likely  some 
plants  are  really  phosphorescent,  but  in  that  case 
the  appearance  would  be  very  different. — F.  T.  S. 


192 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


All  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  be 
addressed  to  the  Publisher.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  can  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer,not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  them. 


M.  Q.  C. — I.  We  do  not  fear  that  the  use  of  a  monocular 
microscope  will  injure  the  eyesight.  2.  We  do  not  think  the 
monocular  superior  to  the  binocular,  especially  for  low 
powers. 

E.  L.  R. — Alnus  glutinosa-laciniata. — B. 
Dr.  J.  P.  H.  B. —  Cannot  you  send   specimen  ?     Have  you 
consulted  Dr.  Grisebach's  "  Flora  of  the  West  Indies  "  ? 

J.  J.  calls  attention  to  "  H.  E.  W.'s  "  anecdotes,  and  refers 
to  "  Country  Life,"  18n'7,  p.  231,  for  two  of  those  cited  in 
S.-G.  1871,  p.  40;  only  that  the  "young  lady  *'  was  then  a 
"London   nursemaid."      Is  this  an  example  of  "Natural 

e scent"  ? 

C.  E. — We  never  attempt  to  name  objects  from  description. 

J.  H. — It  seems  to  be  the  Mer7nis  nigrescens.  See  S.-G. 
18G;,  p.  221. 

M.  A.  L. — The  only  book  likely  to  meet  your  wants  is 
Cooke's  "  British  Fungi  "  (Six  Shillings),  published  by  Hard- 
wicke. 

C.  W. — We  confess  that  we  know  nothing  of  "  musical 
sand." 

C.  L.  will  find  an  account  of  the  "  Coronella"  in  "British 
Reptiles,"  published  by  Robert  Hardwicke,  with  coloured 
figure. 

R.  T.  A. — We  are  unable  to  give  you  any  advice  as  to  dis- 
posal of  "  preserved  insects,"  &c. 

E.  H. — It  is  very  difficult  to  determine  the  larvae  of  beetles, 
Sec.    At  present  yours  are  not  identified. 

W.  H.  W. — An  Ixodes,  probably  Ixodes  Pari.  See  Leach  in 
"Linnean  Transactions,"  vol.  xi.  p.  398. 

F.  I.  W. — Eurotium  herbariorum, 

G.  S.  T. — Arcyria  punicea. 

E.  P.  P. — 1.  Enough  benzole  to  render  the  dissolved  resin 
of  the  required  consistency.  2.  East  Indian  dammar.  3. 
Pound  the  gum,  shake  or  stir  whilst  dissolving.  4.  Yes,  it 
requisite  to  soak  in  anything.  You  seem  to  have  used  some 
other  resin  (copal  ?)  ;  hence  the  failure. 

A.  B.  E  — Smallest  larva  undeterminable  in  its  shrunken 
state.  Large  larva,  Clisiocampa  neustria.  Cannibalism  in 
caterpillars  not  unfrequent.— F.  M. 

W.  L.  W.  E.—I'hlomis  fruticosa.  Ait.— B. 

"W.  B. — Rume.r  acetosella,  L.    What  botany  do  you  use  ? 

B.  R.  and  II.  L. — Put  them  in  a  bottle  with  bruised  laurel- 
leaves. 

W.  Y. — You  are  not  likely  to  get  it  in  this  country  at  all. 

S.  R. — Have  you  read  our  instructions  to  correspondents  so 
often  printed  at  the  commencement  of  this  last  page  ?  We 
do  not  insert  lists. 

L.  R  R. —  Apparently  a  Cotoneaster  near  C.  bacillaris. 
"The  Gardener's  Chronicle,"  "Journal  of  Agriculture,"  or 
"The  Gardener's  Magazine," are  more  suitable  media  for  ob- 
taining the  names  of  garden  plants. — B. 

G.  S.  S. —  1.  Geranium  Rof/erfiunum,'var.  ptirpureum.  2. 
Apparently  only  Arabia  hirsuta  more  hirsute  than  usual.— B.' 

S.  H.  G. — Books  are  not  eligible  for  exchange  list. 

A.  E.-We  only  know  of  Paxton's  "Dictionary,"  and  the 
"  Cottage  Gardener's  Dictionary." 

E.  B.— You  will  find  its  occurrence  noted  in  back  volumes 
of  this  journal. 

S.  S.  (Brighton)— Please  send  correct  address. 

T.  — A  trap  to  catch  the  unwary. 

W.  P. — Too  long  for  exchange  column. 

L.  P.— 1.  You  will  find  an  article  in  the  "  Popular  Science 
Review,"  No.  24.  2.  The  monstrosity  you  describe  is  not 
uncommon. 


F.  C— Send  larger  specimens,  and  affix  numbers. 

H.  F.  P.—Polyporus  rufescens,  Fr.  Cooke's  "Handbook," 
No.  740. 

J.  L.  P. — Anthrenus  xanthura,  Kirby,  female. — F.  W. 

B.  W.  (Taranaki.)  —  1.  Selophilus  agerinun,  Walk.  1. 
Musca  quadrimaculata.     3.  Muscu  Lxmica,  White. — F.  W. 

L.  T. —  1.  Trichostomum  tophaceum.  2.  Hypnumfalcatum. 
—  R.  B. 

R.  V.  T. — 1.  Bryum  cernuum.  2.  Sypnum  Swartzii. — R.  B. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice. — Only  one  "Exchange"  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britain)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Ptinus  pkrtinax  (a  hooded  beetle)  offered  for  microscopic 
material. — Rev.  Jno.  Hanson,  14,  Bagby  Square,  Leeds. 

Pike  Scales  prepared  for  mounting.  Send  stamped  en- 
velope.—J.  H.  M.,  17,  Walham  Grove,  St.  John's.  Fulham, 
S.W. 

Cleaned  Spicules  from  Holothuria  and  Tethea  Lyncu- 
rium  for  other  spicules  or  material  (not  seeds  or  scales). — 
C.  E.  Osborn,  28,  Albert  Road,  Upper  Holloway,  London,  N. 

Feathers  of  Humming  Bird  and  portion  of  Peacock  ditto, 
&c.  (unmounted),  for  other  good  objects  and  stamp. — C.  D., 
187,  Oxford  Street,  Mile  End,  E. 

For  Grayling  Scales  send  stamped  envelope  to  J.  Sargent, 
Jun.,  Frltchley,  near  Derby.  (Any  microscopic  object  accept- 
able.) 

Batrachospermum  moniliformis  for  any  of  the  rarer 
marine  algse.— T.  Rogers,  7,  Cookson  Street,  Manchester. 

Fossils,  mostly  Oolitic,  offered  for  others. — Send  lists  to 
Dr.  Parsons,  Beckington,  Somerset. 

Paste  Eels  wanted.  A  full  equivalent  for  a  few  will  be 
thankfully  given.— A.  N.,  Fareham. 

Pvrola  rotundifdlia  for  any  British  fern  dried,  except 
Aspidium  Fili.i'  mas  and  Opliioglossum  vulgatum. 


By 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"The  Natural  History  of  the  British  Diatomaeea?." 
Arthur  Scott  Donkin,  M.D.     Part  2.     Van  Voorst. 

"The  Australian  Medical  Journal."  Nos.  119,  120,  March 
and  April,  1871.     Melbourne:  Stillwell  and  Knight. 

"  Transactions  of  the  Woolhope  Naturalists'  Field  Club  for 
1870."     Hereford,  1871. 

"  Cope's  Tobacco  Plant."    No.  16,  July,  1871.     Liverpool. 

"Journal  of  Applied  Science."     No.  19.     July,  1871. 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Liverpool  Naturalists'  Field  Club  for 
1870-1." 

"  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal."     July,  1871. 

"  Deschanel's  Natural  Philosophy."  By  Professor  Everett. 
Part  2.  Heat.  Illustrated  by  150  Engravings  on  wood.  Lon- 
don :  Blackie  &  Son. 

"  Catalogue  of  British  Coleoptera."  By  David  Sharp,  M.B. 
(One  Shilling.)     London:  Janson. 

"The  Popular  Science  Review,"  for  July,  1871.  London: 
Robert  Hardwicke. 

"Catalogue  of  Birds,  Insects, and  Squirrels  collected  in  the 
vicinity  of  Toronto,  Canada."  By  Alexander  M.  Ross,  M.D., 
Stc.    Toronto,  1871. 

"  The  Animal  World,"  for  July,  1871. 

"  Land  and  Water."     Nos.  284,  285.  286, 287. 

"  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."     July,  1871. 

"  A  Key  to  the  Natural  Orders  of  British  Wrild  Flowering 
Plants.''  By  Thomas  Baxter,  F.G.S.  London:  Simpkm, 
Marshall,  &  Co. 

"  The  American  Naturalist,"  for  July,  18/1. 

"  Proceedings  of  the  Geologists'  Association."  Vol.  II. 
No.  1.    April,  1871. 

"  The  Australian  Medical  Journal,"  for  May,  1871. 


Communications  Received.— W.  D.  R. — E.  L. — C.  M.  E. 
— N.  W.-W.  C.  C  — H.  D.— T.  L.— H.  E.  Wr.— J.  H.  G.— 
H.  H.— M.  M.  M.— W.  H.  H.— M.  Q.  C— W.  L.  W.  E— J.  B. 
— W.  W.  S.— M.  A.  L.— C.  W.— G.  S.  S.— C.  L.— A.  B.  E.— 

E.  C— P.  I.  W.— B.  W.  F.— C.  B.— R.  H.— W.  H.  W.— L.  S.— 
C.  J.  W.  R.— L.  R.  R.-G.  S— W.  N.— T.  W— S  B.  B.— 
J.  H— E.  A.— A.  A— E.  P  P.— J.  H.— J.  H.  M— F.  B.— J.  B. 
— M.  A.  D.— E.  F.  R.— J.  R.  S.  C— B.  W—  J.  L.  C— E.  T.  S. 
—  C.  E.  O.— G.  H.  H.  — B.  R— C.  I.  D.— J.  S.— W.  Y.— W.  D.  R. 
-H.  F.  P.— R   E— S.  S.— S.  H.  G.— A.  E.— J.  W.  G— E.  B.— 

F.  C— A.  E.-T.  R.— H.  L.— E.  C— A.  N.— L.  F.— J.  L.  B.— 
W.  P.— W.  H.  H.— E.  W.— F.  A.— W.  B.  G.— J.  G.— T.  G. 


HARDVVICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


193 


HOBNED    BRITISH    CATEBPILLAES. 


'HE  British  Islands, 
as  compared  with 
other       countries, 
cannot  be  said  to 
be  rich  in  curious 
or  grotesque  cater- 
pillars, though  we 
have     some    very 
singular     forms 
amongst    our    na- 
tives.   It  is  now  pretty  gene- 
rally known,  even  to    those 
who  make  no  pretensions  to 
be  lepidopterists,  that  we  have 
many  hundred  species  of  that 
order  of  insects,  some  exceed- 
ingly   abundant,    and    others 
only  known  to  be  British  by 
one  or  two  specimens ;  and  a 
number   of  gradations    as  to 
scarceness  or  commonness  in- 
termediate between  these  ex- 
tremes.    "We  have  an  over- 
whelming   preponderance    of 
moths  over  butterflies ;  against 
sixty-five  of   the  latter,    the   former  can  muster 
something  like    eighteen    hundred  species.     The 
splendidly  illustrated  works  which  have  been  pub- 
lished descriptive  of  foreign  butterflies,  and  the 
changes  they  undergo,  show  that  more  singularities 
occur  amongst  the  caterpillars  of  butterflies  than 
amongst  the  moths.    Therefore  it  follows  that  had 
we  more  butterflies  in  Britain,  we  should  be  able  to 
show  more  remarkable  caterpillars  than  we  can 
exhibit  at  present.    I  say  advisedly,  at  present, 
because  there  are  some  folks  who  are  attempting  to 
acclimatize  here  certain  foreign  species.    These,  as 
far  as  they  have  gone,  do  not,  however,  hold  out 
much  hope  that  "illustrious  foreigners"  of  the 
lepidopterous  race  of  beings  are  likely  to   settle 
permanently  here.    But  if  we  have  not  so  many 
choice  insects  to  hunt  after  as  a  resident  in  Brazil, 
in  India,  or  in  China,  on  the  other  hand  we  have  this 
compensation  that  we  have  fewer  insect  annoyances, 
No.  81. 


and  we  can  go  out  to  catch  or  to  observe  insects 
without  being  scorched  by  a  tropical  sun,  or  dashed 
to  the  ground  by  a  tornado ;  or,  worse  still,  finding 
ourselves  made  a  sudden  target  for  the  arrow  or 
spear  of  the  wild  wanderer. 

As  yet  we  have  no  classification  of  caterpillars 
generally,  according  to  their  outward  aspect ;  nor, 
were  it  done,  would  it  help  us  at  all  to  discover 
what  insects  they  were  to  be  the  parents  of,  for 
caterpillars  which  are  most  different  from  each  other 
in  appearance,  in  some  cases  produce  moths  nearly 
related. 

Of  the  adornments — for  such  they  may  justly  be 
deemed — which  are  displayed  by  some  of  our  British 
caterpillars,  a  goodly  list  could  be  made.  Besides  an 
almost  endless  variety  in  colour  and  markings,  we 
have  additional  distinctions  in  the  way  of  hairs, 
spines,  warts,  humps,  lappets,  tubercles,  and  horns. 
It  is  of  the  chief  of  these,  rejoicing  in  the  last  pecu- 
liarity, that  I  have  now  to  write,  and  in  the  fore- 
front we  must  place  the  caterpillar  of  the  Swallow- 
tail.   This  butterfly  (Papilio  Machaon),   recently 
commented  upon  in  this  periodical,  is  an  insect  of 
some  importance,  as  our  only  representative  of  a 
very  large  exotic  family.    The  caterpillar  is  to  be 
found  throughout  the  summer  feeding  on  marsh 
plants,  especially  on   the  hog's  fennel,  or  milk- 
parsley.     Some  who  have  kept  them  in  confinement 
have  fed  them  on  the  leaves  of  carrot  or  rue.    The 
velvety  skin,  which  is  studded  with  fine  bristles,  is 
beautifully  marked  with  spots  and  bars  in  black 
and  orange  upon  a  green  ground ;   but  the  second 
segment  is  the  most  singular  part  of  the  body.  Erom 
this,  when  it  chooses,  the  Swallow-tail  caterpillar 
thrusts  forth,  through  a  slit  in  the  back,  a  two- 
forked  horn  (as  we  must  call  it),  which  is  something 
like  the  letter  Y  in  shape,  and  half  an  inch  in 
length  when  fully  shown.    This  weapon — if  weapon 
it  be — owes  its  efficacy  to  the  fact  that  it  is  hollow, 
and  if  the  forks  of  the  horn  do  not  actually  exude  a 
fluid,  they  at  least  give  forth  a  strong  scent,  which 
may  drive  off  insect  enemies  or  parasites.    It  may 
be  so,  and  that  is  all  we  can  conjecture  about  the 
purpose  for  which  it  is  intended ;  though  Bonnet,  in 

K 


191 


HARDWICKE'S    S  C  I  E  N  C  E-GO  SSIP. 


his  work  ou  insects,  says  that  a  caterpillar  of 
Machaon  which  he  touched,  directed  the  horn 
towards  the  fingers  as  if  to  strike.  Other  observers 
have  not  as  yet  confirmed  this.  When  it  thinks  fit, 
the  caterpillar  can  entirely  hide  this  apparatus  from 
view,  its  place  being  only  denoted  by  two  dots  ;  and, 
singular  to  say,  it  occasionally  protrudes  one  part  of 
this  Y,  keeping  the  other  within.  The  odour  is  so 
strong,  one  entomologist  notes,  who  had  caterpillars 
in  rearing,  that  it  scented  the  garden  for  some 
distance  powerfully.  And  also  it  has  been  found  to 
bear  a  resemblance  to  that  of  the  particular  species 
on  which  the  caterpillar  feeds. 

One  other  caterpillar  from  which  springs  a  British 
butterfly  is  also  a  "  horned  beast,"  and  its  adorn- 
ment, though  differing  from  that  of  the  Swallow- 
tail, is  nearly  as  remarkable.  The  Purple  Emperor 
(Apatura  Iris)  is  a  species  much  sought  after  by 
butterfly-hunters,  and  prized  on  account  of  its 
beauty,  and  the  difficulty  usually  attendiug  its  cap- 
ture. The  caterpillar  few  have  found.  Though  it  was 
formerly  reputed  to  be  an  oak-feeder,  it  is  more 
generally  discovered  now  on  the  sallow.  When  first 
hatched,  the  body  of  the  little  Emperor  (to  be)  has 
nothing  particular  in  its  appearance  ;  after  the  first 
change  of  skin  two  horns  are  developed,  which  are 
attached  to  the  head  ;  they  are  then  longer,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  size,  than  at  any  later  period  in  the 
growth  of  the  caterpillar.  Feeding  on  until  rather 
latish  in  the  autumn,  it  then,  as  Dr.  Maclean  has 
observed,  descends  to  an  angle  of  the  twig  below 
where  it  has  been  feeding,  and  spinning  a  slight  pad 
of  silk,  fixes  itself  there,  with  its  horns  extended 
straight  in  front,  and  waits  for  the  return  of  spring. 
The  full-grown  caterpillar  is  about  in  the  early  part 
of  the  summer,  showing  a  particular  dislike  to  be 
touched  or  handled.  "  When  feeding,"  says  New- 
man, "it  bends  its  somewhat  obese  body  with  the 
facility,  and  I  would  almost  say  elegance,  of  a 
slug ;  but  I  fear  many  will  scarcely  appreciate  the 
comparison."  Very  likely  not.  There  exists  this 
notable  difference  between  the  horns  of  this  cater- 
pillar and  those  of  the  mollusks ;  they  cannot  be 
withdrawn,  and  they  move  only  with  the  head  to 
which  they  are  attached.  The  position  of  the  mouth 
when  the  caterpillar  is  engaged  in  eating  makes 
them  at  that  time  point  backwards,  at  other  times 
they  are  directed  in  front.  These  horns  are  tinged 
with  blue  at  the  fore  part,  whitish  behind,  the  tips 
approaching  to  black.  The  caterpillar  of  the  Purple 
Emperor  has  not  been  observed  to  make  any  use  of 
these  appendages. 

Amongst  our  British  butterflies  there  are  no 
other  species  with  horned  caterpillars ;  though  in 
some  of  the  fritillary  tribe,  as  for  instance  in  the 
Silver-washed  (Argynnis  Paphia),  at  a  hasty  glance 
the  caterpillar  seems  to  be  horned.  This  aspect  is 
due  to  a  pair  of  spines  which  point  forwards  over 
the  head.    Let  it  be  noted  here,  before  passing  to 


other  horned  kinds,  that,  unlike  quadrupeds,  what- 
ever horns  they  have  are  rarely,  if  ever,  horny,  which 
seems  Hibernian,  yet  is  true. 

The  bulk  of  our  horned  British  caterpillars  are  to 
be  found  in  that  family  of  moths  which  Linnaeus 
grouped  together  in  his  genus  Sphinx,  now  sub- 
divided and  placed  amongst  the  body  of  moths 
called  the  Noctumi. 

Our  largest  native  caterpillar  is  that  of  the 
Death's-head  Hawk-moth  (Acherontia  Atropos),  the 
name  "  hawk "  being  given  to  this  and  others  as 
significant  of  their  rapid,  and  frequently  very 
straight  flight.  The  Death's-head  caterpillar  is 
about  four  inches  long;  though  feeding  occasionally 
on  other  plants,  it  most  frequently  haunts  the 
potato,  and  its  presence  sometimes  occasions  in  the 
mind  of  the  uneducated  much  vexation  and  con- 
sternation, for  it  is  regarded  as  injurious,  and  in  the 
Midland  counties  called  a  "lokus."  Like  a  number 
of  other  caterpillars  in  the  family,  this  has  seven 
stripes  along  each  side,  which  meet  on  the  back. 
The  horn  is  above  the  tail  of  the  caterpillar,  and 
does  not  possess  the  power  of  motion.  It  is  pecu- 
liar from  having  a  double  bend,  and  it  is  also  rough. 
Ivirby  and  Spence  first  remarked  that  the  Death's- 
head  caterpillar  had  the  power  of  uttering  a  distinct 
noise ;  and  Newman  has  confirmed  the  statement, 
the  circumstance  being  an  unusual  one  in  caterpillar 
life.  The  full-grown  individuals  retire  to  a  con- 
siderable depth  in  the  ground  to  enter  upon  their 
repose  in  the  chrysalis  state. 

On  privet  bushes  in  August  and  September, 
sitting  at  early  morning  in  what  is  called  the 
"sphinx  attitude,"  the  caterpillar  of  the  Privet 
Hawk-moth  {Sphinx  ligustri)  attracts  the  notice 
occasionally  of  non-entomologists.  It  is  of  con- 
siderable size  when  adult,  displaying  then  to  perfec- 
tion the  seven  stripes,  which  are  broad,  and  half 
purple,  half  white.  The  horn  at  the  tail  curls  back, 
and  is  black  above  and  yellow  beneath.  Erom  its 
size  this  caterpillar  proves  a  bonne  louche  to  a 
hungry  bird,  and,  as  a  wjse  precaution,  it  seems 
generally  to  keep  under  cover  of  the  twigs,  with  the 
exception  already  noticed,  so  that  the  popular 
proverb  may  hold  good  in  this  case  that  the  early 
bird  catches  the  caterpillar. 

Much  more  rare  is  the  caterpillar  of  the  Convol- 
vulus Hawk-moth  (Sphinx  convolvuli),  which  feeds 
on  the  species  of  convolvulus  or  bindweed,  con- 
cealing itself  during  the  day  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  or  going  a  little  way  beneath  it.  In  this 
species  the  stripes  are  black  and  white,  and  the  horn 
is  yellowish. 

Different  as  are  the  perfect  insects  of  the  Poplar 
Hawk-moth  (Smerinthus  populi)  and  the  Eyed 
Hawk-moth  (S.  ocellatus),  the  caterpillars  are  very 
similar,  and  they  both  have  a  partiality  for  the  leaves 
of  the  willow  and  poplar.  The  Poplar  Hawk 
caterpillar  is  iudeed  said  to  feed  occasionally  upon 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


195 


the  laurel  and  laurustinus  also,  but  this  is  question- 
able. Though  there  is  some  difference  in  the  tint 
of  the  stripes  in  the  two  caterpillars,  and  also  in 
the  ground-colour,  we  are  at  once  enabled  to  see 
"  who's  who  "  when  we  examine  their  horns.  The 
Eyed  Hawk  exhibits  one  which  is  decidedly  blue, 
the  Poplar  Hawk  caterpillar  has  at  its  tail  one  of  a 
yellow  colour,  inclining  to  red.  The  year  1870  fur- 
nished our  entomological  collections  with  a  number 
of  specimens  of  a  Hawk-moth  usually  of  great 
scarcity.  This  is  the  Bedstraw-hawk  {Deilepliila 
galli),  and  which,  for  some  reason  known  to  itself, 
seems,  while  in  the  caterpillar  state,  to  prefer  to 
feast  upon  this  plant  when  it  grows  near  the  coast. 
This  caterpillar  is  so  liable  to  vary,  that  as  many  as 
sixteen  different  varieties  of  it  have  been  enume- 
rated. The  ground-colour  is  sometimes  olive,  in 
other  examples  black,  varying  in  shade  in  different 
parts,  and  having  spots  distributed  over  it  with 
more  or  less  regularity.  Oue  of  the  most  remark- 
able peculiarities  in  the  appearance  of  this  rarity  is, 
that  after  the  last  change  of  skin  nearly  the  whole 
surface  has  a  polished  appearance.  The  horn, 
which  it  bears  like  its  brethren,  is  deep  red,  and 
partly  transparent.  Allied  to  this  species,  and  also 
of  scarce  occurrence,  is  the  Spurge  Hawk  (D.  eu- 
phorbia') and  the  Striped  Hawk  (D.  livornica). 
There  are  other  horned  caterpillars  in  this  family  of 
moths,  which  we  must  pass  over,  noticing  next  the 
caterpillar  of  the  Humming-bird  Hawk  (Macroglossa 
stellatarurti) .  The  moth  may  be  seen  even  in  the 
vicinity  of  towns  at  different  dates  in  spring,  sum- 
mer, and  autumn,  flying  by  day  or  at  the  twilight 
hour,  rarely  in  the  darkness  of  night.  Hovering 
over  the  blossoms  with  a  sonorous  hum,  its  eyes 
sparkling  as  it  inserts  its  trunk  to  obtain  the  honeyed 
treasure  it  seeks,  then  dashing  off  with  rapid  wing 
at  a  rate  which  puts  its  capture  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. The  Humming-bird  Hawk  deserves  to  be 
ranked  amongst  the  liveliest  of  its  tribe.  Not  a 
few  stories  which  have  been  circulated  regarding 
the  appearance  of  real  exotic  humming-birds  in 
our  islands  have  originated  with  those  who  have 
watched  the  aerial  manoeuvres  of  this  insect.  The 
caterpillar  feeds  in  the  summer  on  some  of  the 
Bedstraws  (Galium  spec),  and  suffers  at  times  con- 
siderably through  the  sudden  drying  down  of  its 
food-plants,  in  consequence  of  dry  or  hot  weather. 
When  the  supply  of  leaves  fails,  it  proceeds  to 
devour  the  fruits  and  stems  of  the  plant,  and,  if 
the  season  is  favourable,  grows  with  great  rapidity. 
This  caterpillar  is  small  compared  with  its  brethren, 
brownish,  tinged  with  white  aud  blue,  with  a  horn 
thin  and  sharp-pointed.  It  does  not  descend  far 
iuto  the  earth  to  undergo  the  change  into  the  chry- 
salis state,  probably  because  this  usually  lasts  only 
for  a  few  weeks.  Then,  again,  the  caterpillar  of 
the  Elephant  Hawk  [Chmocampa  Elpenor)  distin- 
guishes itself  by  exhibiting  the  most  beautiful  eye- 


like spots  on  the  sides  near  the  head.  The  front 
segments  of  the  body  are  attenuated,  and  from  this 
peculiarity  the  creature  was  supposed  to  resemble 
the  trunk  of  an  elephant.  The  horn  is  thick  and 
blunt.  In  gardens  we  find  individuals  of  this 
species  feeding  sometimes  on  vine  or  fuchsia ;  in  the 
open  country  they  seem  to  prefer  the  willow-herbs. 
All  families  have  aberrant  individuals,  and  the 
Small  Elephant  (C.  porcellus),  unlike  others  of  the 
Hawk-moths,  has  a  caterpillar  which  is  hornless. 
Proceeding  to  a  very  different  family  of  moths, 
forming  part  of  what  were  formerly  called  the 
Bombyces,  we  come  again  upon  horned  caterpillars, 
and  here  we  have  the  horns  going  in  pairs.  Con- 
spicuous amongst  these  is  the  historic  Puss  Moth 
(Dicranura  vinula),  whose  portrait  Isaak  Walton 
painted  so  long  ago  in  his  "  Angler."  Many  a  time 
had  he  seen  this  caterpillar  feeding  on  the  willows 
which  overhung  the  pleasant  Lea  in  Hertfordshire, 
where  I  have  myself  frequently  captured  it.  Here 
the  horns  come  in  the  place  of  the  last  pair  of  legs 
or  claspers,  being  placed  at  the  extremity  of  the 
body.  As  the  caterpillar  crawls  along,  they  are 
raised  into  a  perpendicular  position.  At  those 
times  when  it  is  reposing,  it  holds  firmly  by  the 
eight  claspers,  and  raises  the  head  also  in  the  air. 
But  at  an  early  age  the  horns  are  extended  flat,  and 
brought  close  together  when  it  is  not  feeding,  and 
being  then  dingy  in  colour,  the  caterpillar  looks 
exceedingly  like  a  black  cat  in  miniature,  watching, 
with  extended  body,  to  pounce  upon  some  prey. 
Some  account  of  this  insect  will  be  found  in  the 
volume  for  1870,  pp.  105, 124 ;  and  to  what  is  there 
stated  I  would  only  further  append  my  own  doubts 
as  to  whether  the  inner  horns  or  tentacula  have  any 
efficacy  in  the  driving  off  of  ichneumonideons  para- 
sites ;  and,  also,  that  in  the  adult  caterpillar,  the 
force  with  which  it  can  eject  the  pungent  fluid  from 
the  head  is  very  noticeable,  and  the  seeming  (at 
least)  accuracy  with  which  it  directs  this  to  the  eye 
of  the  entomologist  or  to  some  sensitive  part.  By 
means  of  this,  too,  the  moth  is  subsequently  enabled 
to  release  itself  from  the  hard  cocoon  in  which  the 
chrysalis  was  encased.  Three  other  species,  allied 
to  the  Puss  Moth,  are  called  the  Kittens ;  these  are 
smaller  and  less  common, — one,  indeed,  being  ex- 
ceedingly rare.    In  their  structure  they  are  alike. 

Probably  the  Lobster  caterpillar,  which  pro- 
duces the  moth  scientifically  called  Staicropus  fagi, 
is  the  most  unique  in  form  of  all  our  British  species, 
though  not  of  large  size.  The  second  and  third 
pair  of  legs  are  singularly  and,  as  we  might  think, 
unnaturally  enlarged,  and  along  the  back  is  arranged 
a  series  of  twelve  humps  :  at  the  extremity  of  the 
body  are  two  horns,  which  are  rigid  and  slightly 
curved.  These  do  not  possess  inner  horns  or  fila- 
ments. This  caterpillar  feeds  on  oak,  and  other 
trees  in  the  autumn.  Early  in  the  spring,  occurring 
principally  in   the  woods    of  Bannock,  flies  the 

K  2 


196 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP.1 


Kentish  Glory,  otherwise  called  Endromis  versicolor, 
which,  if  it  be  indeed  a  glorious  species,  has  ap- 
parently ceased  to  honour  the  country  whence  it 
takes  its  name,  through  the  destruction  of  much  of 
the  woodland  it  delighted  in.  The  caterpillar  of 
this  moth  reminds  us  somewhat  of  those  of 
the  Hawk-moths,  being  stout,  and  also  striped. 
When  first  hatched,  each  brood  divides  into  two 
or  more  colonies,  which  form  a  web  for  their 
protection.  They  are  then  studded  over  with 
minute  warts  or  points,  slightly  hairy  and  smoke- 
coloured.  After  several  changes  of  skin,  they 
appear  in  full  costume,  being  then  an  inch  and  a 
half  in  length.  The  ground-colour  is  green,  vary- 
ing in  hue,  the  stripes  being  white  and  a  darker 
green.  A  hump  above  the  tail  is  prolonged  into  a 
white  horn. 

We  have  thus  glanced  slightly  at  the  greater 
number  of  our  horned  British  caterpillars,  and 
though  the  transformations  of  most  of  these  have 
been  watched  from  the  egg,  there  are  still  facts 
regarding  them  which  have  not  yet  been  discovered, 
since  it  needs  long  and  careful  observation  to  make 
out  the  full  history  of  a  species. 

J.  R.  S.  Clifford. 


MARINE  AQUARIA. 

Sea-water.— Artificial  versus  Real. 

A  QUARIA,  and  all  things  pertaining  to  them, 
-E*~  have  been  so  often  written  about  of  late, 
that  I  should  feel  very  reluctant  to  offer  any  re- 
marks on  the  subject,  had  not  a  gentleman  who 
reads  Science-Gossip  (and  I  believe  writes  in  it) 
written  to  ask  me  to  detail  #?#  experience  of  artificial 
sea-water,  and  the  management  of  a  marine  aqua- 
rium, in  the  pages  of  that  magazine. 

The  first  aquarium  I  ever  set  up  (for  I  do  not  call 
the  different  little  attempts  I  had  made  when  stay- 
ing on  the  coast  to  keep  some  of  the  common 
objects  found  there,  for  a  short  time  in  wash-hand 
basins  and]  finger-glasses,  aquaria)  was  a  very 
pretty  cylindrical  glass  vessel, — I  did  not  venture 
upon  a  tank  then,  in  those  early  days  of  aquarium 
fashion,  and  it  was  supplied  with  clear,  perfectly 
pure  s«z-water,  purchased  in  London,  sea-water 
which  was  kept  for  the  especial  purpose,  of  proper 
specific  gravity,  at  an  establishment  near  the 
Regent's  Park. 

This,  my  first  aquarium,  gave  me  the  least 
trouble  of  all  in  respect  to  the  water;  but  it  was 
stocked  for  me  by  a  gentleman  who  was  quite  au 
fait  in  the  matter.  Rock-work,  sea-shingle,  alga, 
and  all  were  properly  prepared  and  grown  before 
they  were  transferred  into  my  wee  glass  ocean, 
which  was  made  perfectly  fit  for  the  introduction  of 
animals  ere  I  began  to  collect  live  stock. 

Having  succeeded  well  for  a  few  years  in  keeping 


various  zoophytes  in  first-rate  condition,  by  means 
of  these  unpretending  glass  bowls,  in  a  house  situ- 
ated in  one  of  the  London  squares  (Tavistock 
Square),  I  determined,  on  going  to  live  in  the 
country,  to  try  Marine  Aquaria  on  a  larger  scale. 
I  was  distant  ten  miles  from  the  coast,  so  I  set  up 
three  kinds  of  marine  homes ;  in  one  I  used  the  puri- 
fied sea-water,  procured  from  London ;  the  other 
was  filled  with  artificial  sea-water,  made  with 
Gosse's  compound,  the  third  stocked  with  sea-water 
taken  from  off  the  beach  at  Southsea.  This  aqua- 
rium caused  me  the  most  grief ;  but  it  was  great 
fun  also,  to  drive  down  from  my  little  den  at  Ham- 
bledon,  and  spend  the  entire  day  on  the  shore  collect- 
ing, though  there  was  not  much  variety  there,  and 
returning  home  in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  through 
those  green  Hampshire  lanes,  the  pony  carriage 
laden  with  jars  of  salt-water,  and  hamper  full  of 
sea-weeds, — the  hamper,  which  had  in  the  morning 
been  the  receptacle  for  our  sandwiches  and  sherry. 

Sea-water,  taken  out  at  sea,  some  distance  from 
the  shore  is  a  very  different  fluid  to  what  I  got  on 
Southsea  beach,  or  indeed  from  what  I  obtain  here, 
on  the  shore  near  Beaumaris. 

It  had  to  be  filtered  through  flowerpots  stuffed 
with  pieces  of  sponge  instead  of  corks,  the  sponge 
left  quite  loose  enough  to  allow  of  the  water  pass- 
ing in  a  rapid  drip  down  into  the  vessel  below, 
then  allowed  to  settle';  then  it  had  to  be  stirred  up 
again  and  refiltered,  until  it  became  purified  from 
all  the  filth  and  decomposed  matter  which  it  at 
first  contained;  becoming  in  the  end  as  clear  as 
crystal. 

Artificial  sea-water  requires  the  same  kind  of  pre- 
paration in  a  modified  form ;  it  too  needs  filtering, 
and  testing,  by  means  of  gravity-beads.  There 
are  two  kinds  of  beads  sold  by  dealers  in  aquaria, 
called  "  specific-gravity  beads."  One  of  these  balls 
floats  when  the  water  is  a  right  strength,  and  the 
other  sinks.  Directly  the  floating  ball  begins  to 
sink,  it  shows  the  water  is  weak,  and  if  the  sinking 
bead  rises,  add  a  littte  fresh  water  until  you  see  it 
begin  to  fall  again.  Evaporation  will  cause  an  in- 
crease in  the  density  of  the  water. 

Gosse's  formula,  if  you  get  the  dry,  in  one-pound 
packets,  must  be  mixed  in  an  earthen  vessel ;  some 
pieces  of  sea-weed  should  be  thrown  in,  and  all  left 
to  stand  for  a  week  or  ten  days  (three  gallons  of 
spring  or  river  water  to  a  pound  of  the  dry  prepa- 
ration is  the  correct  proportion).  At  the  expiration 
of  this  time,  transfer  the  water  into  your  tank,  and 
place  the  sea-weeds — I  used  small  tufts  of  Viva 
and  Enteromorpha  ;  for  I  discovered  they  were  the 
best  to  have  at  first,  though  I  afterwards  intro- 
duced other  kinds  for  the  sake  of  variety.  Here 
let  me  remark  that  all  sea-weeds  put  in  an  aquarium 
should  be  in  a  growing  state,  attached  to  small 
pieces  of  rock.  If  you  collect  for  yourself,  go  down 
to  the  beach  with  wallet  and  hammer,  when  the 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


197 


tide  is  fully  out,  and  chip  off  some  nice  bits  of  weed- 
covered  rock.  Should  you  light  upon  an  empty 
oyster-shell  ornamented  with  serpula,  or  the  habita- 
tion of  a  defunct  whelk,  pop  them  in  your  bag ; 
they  will  look  natural,  and  therefore  well,  on  your 
miniature  beach;  but  never,  I  implore  you,  put 
litte  bits  of  coloured  glass  or  foreign  shells  in  your 
tank.  A  China  mermaid,  or  one  of  those  porcelain 
representations  of  wonderful-looking  lobsters  and 
crabs,  worked  up  into  inkstands  or  match-boxes, 
which  the  fancy  shops  of  Robertson-street, 
Hastings,  abound  in,  would  be  every  atom  as  suit- 
able. The  object  to  be  kept  in  mind  is  this,  to 
make  your  aquarium  look  as  like  a  real  sea-pool  as 
possible. 

Pass  all  the  water  through  a  filter  after  you  have 
placed  the  rock-work  and  sea-weeds  in;  and,  when 
your  beach  has  been  laid  down  (the  beach,  I  need 
scarcely  tell  you,  should  be  composed  of  shingle 
and  a  little  sea  sand),  let  a  day  elapse,  so  that  the 
water  may  be  quite  bright  before  you  introduce 
your  animals  into  their  future  home.  Get  a  few 
"Mes"  at  first;  they  are  the  most  hardy  kinds, 
and  are  commonly  known  as  the  "  Strawberry 
Anemone."  Wait  a  little,  and  see  how  they  thrive 
ere  you  put  in  more  stock. 

The  chief  fault  almost  all  aqivmum-keepers  fall 
into  at  first,  is  over-crowding;  they  put  in  too 
much  animal  life.  Three  anemones  to  the  gallon, 
as  my  Cookery  Book  would  express  it,  are  the 
right  number. 

Collectors  who  have  kept  fresh-water  aquariums 
may  deem  that  a  sufficiency  of  sea-plants  will  keep 
up  the  proper  amount  of  oxygen;  but  they  must 
not  depend  on  this.  Presh-water  plants  and  fresh 
waters  are  very  different  to  marine ;  the  former 
tanks  require  neither  filtering  nor  aeration ;  the 
latter  must  be  constantly  agitated  by  any  one  who 
wishes  to  keep  the  creatures  in  a  healthy  condition. 
They  are  accustomed  to  it  in  their  native  sub- 
marine homes,  and  therefore  I  continually  either 
used,  what  'a  very  clever  writer  on  aquariums 
called  "  the  drip  pot,"  that  is,  hung  a  flowerpot, 
with  a  piece  of  sponge  in  it,  over  the  tank  of  a 
morning,  and  having  filled  it  with  water  from  the 
tank,  let  it  drop  in,  or  gave  the  fluid  in  the  tank  a 
gentle  stir. 

There  are  a  few  appliances  which  I  found  it 
requisite  to  purchase,  and  which  I  will  now  men- 
tion. Pirst  of  all,  the  gravity-beads',  before  alluded 
to — they  cost  me  two  shillings ;  a  siphon  to  draw 
off  the  water  with  (I  used  gutta-percha  tubing  at 
first  for  this  purpose,  but  found  it  objectionable) ; 
wooden  forceps  like  long  sugar-tongs,  to  feed  the 
anemones  with,  and  a  syringe  to  aerate  the  water : 
they  all  cost  about  eight  shillings  (the  filter  I 
made,  as  you  have  read,  out  of  a  flowerpot 
suspended  over  the  aquarium) ;  and  the  "  sponge- 
stick;"  also,  for  cleaning  the  glass  sides  of  the 


tank,  an  old  cane,  with  a  little  wash-leather  tied 
securely  round  the  top,  is  all  that  can  be  required. 

I  have  just  had  a  full  account  of  some  aquaria  on 
a  large  scale,  which  have  been  fitted  up  at  a  country 
house  in  Hampshire  by  a  well-known  dealer  in 
"  marine  stores  ; "  but  were  I  rich  enough  to  pro- 
cure such  an  expensive  ornament  to  my  grounds,  I 
am  very  sure  it  would  never  afford  me  the  pleasure 
my  lawn  pond  and  greenhouse  aquaria  did  at  "  the 
Lodge." 

The  amusing  adventures  met  with  when  collect- 
ing objects,  some  of  our  party  looking  doubtless,  in 
the  eyes  of  the  rustics  we  met,  greater  objects  than 
the  queer  specimens  we  carried,  were  in  themselves 
a  source  of  great  entertainment.  I  remember  one 
morning  especially ;  a  friend,  my  little  boy,  and 
self,  started  after  breakfast  to  dive  into  the 
mysteries  of  a  shallow  pond  about  three  miles 
distant.  I  wanted  to  procure  a  few  water-beetles ; 
and,  having  secured  the  kind  I  wanted,  sat  down 
on  the  bank  by  the  side  of  the  pool,  while 
"Mokwa"  began  to  draw  the  mud,  for  the  said 
pond  looked  more  like  mud  in  a  state  of  solution 
than  water.  "Mokwa,"  I  should  explain,  was  a 
nom  de  plume  given  ray  friend  during  his  residence 
in  the  wilds  of  North  America ;  it  is,  I  believe, 
Indian  for  Grizzly  Bear.  My  boy  sat  by  me, 
patiently  waiting  until  I  should  finish  decorating 
his  straw  hat  with  some  wild  flowers  he  had 
picked.  We  were  suddenly  startled  by  a  loud 
gruff  "  hem ; "  I  looked  round  and  saw  a  face 
matching  the  voice  peering  over  the  hedge  at  my 
back.  "  Hem  "  was  uttered  again ;  I  looked  down 
at  Bertie's  hat;  I  did  not  want  to  appear 
frightened,  but  I  was  desperately  so. 

A  vision  of  the  elderly  gentleman,  whom  Dickens 
so  graphically  describes  as  having  fallen  in  love  with 
Mrs.  Nickleby,  and  showering  marks  of  his  affection 
on  her  over  the  wall  in  the  shape  of  cucumbers, 
came  to  disturb  my  serenity ;  for  there  were  some 
formidable  turnips  in  the  field.  Mokwa,  however, 
heard  the  third  "  hem,"  and  rushed  up  the  bank. 

"  What  are  you  catching  ?  "  asked  the  great  un- 
known, in  a  voice  of  thunder. 

"  I  regret  to  say  that  I  am  not  catching  any- 
thing," replied  Mokwa,  with  an  indescribably 
comic  expression. 

"What  do  you  expect  to  catch?"  was  asked,  still 
more  imperiously. 

"Tadpoles,  sticklebacks,  and  caddis-worms," 
was  the  answer  given  this  time,  in  a  facsimile  voice 
and  style.  The  curious  seeker  after  knowledge 
seemed  a  little  put  out.  He  turned  again  to  look 
at  me ;  I  cannot  flatter  myself  that  I  was  at  all  cal- 
culated to  reassure  him,  in  a  large  straw  hat,  with 
a  flower-bedecked  boy  on  my  lap,  and  a  bottle  full 
of  beetles  by  my  side, — I  certainly  did  not  present  a 
very  sane  or  enchanting  appearance,  and  I  am 
equally  certain  that  nothing  like  Mokwa's  Indian 


19S 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


head-covering  and  leathern  miner's  jacket  (for  his 
bearship  had  been  in  California  at  the  diggings)  had 
ever  met  his  eyes  before.  I  saw  doubts  of  our  sanity 
working  in  his  face.  He  turned  away  rapidly,  and 
strode  off  over  the  turnip  ridges,  tbinking,  poor  man 
(as  he  afterwards  confided  to  a  friend),  that  we  were 
a  party  of  lunatics  out  for  a  holiday  from  Eare- 
ham  Asylum ;  "  for  what,  I  ask  you,  Earmer 
Stubbington,  could  any  ere  people  in  their  senses 
want  a  catching  them  nasty  worms  and  beadles 
for?"  and  he  considerably  disturbed  his  family's 
peace  of  mind  at  dinner  by  telling  them  what  dan- 
gerous characters  there  were  in  the  vicinity  of  "Hoe 
Earm  "  that  day,  while  we  returned  to  our  lunch, 
and  amused  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Cochrane  and  Miss 
Williams  with  an  account  of  Earmer  T.'s  discom- 
fiture. 

It  is  astonishing  how  profoundly  ignorant  some 
of  the  lower  classes  still  are,  despite  the  progress  of 
education,  in  respect  to  natural  history.  I  have  seen 
a  butterfly-collector  followed  by  a  crowd  of  rustics, 
men,  women,  and  children. 

"Poor  man,  he  baint  quite  right  in  his  head." 
"  It's  easy  to  see  he  have  a  soft  place  there." 
"  He  is  a  button  short,  or  he'd  never  be  fishing 
in  the  sky  instead  of  the  sea,"  were  a  few  of  the 
remarks  made,  and  one  bright  youth  suggested  that 
"  the  gentleman  ate  them  things,  like  mother's  cat 
did  the  crickets." 

Once,  on  an  excursion  to  Southsea,  I  found  two 
friends,  who  had  started  early  in  the  morning,  sur- 
rounded by  a  parcel  of  boys.  They  were  seemingly 
much  amused,  and  one  of  them  having  overheard  a 
remark  to  the  effect  that  the  lads  believed  they  be- 
longed to  the  show  that  had  just  been  in  Ports- 
mouth, they  aided  the  delusion,  by  saying,  "  How 
the  Mermaid,  poor  dear,  will  enjoy  these  jelly-fish 
(sea-anemones)  for  her  supper,"  &c.  When  La 
Comtesse  de  Mania  and  myself  put  in  an  appearance, 
I  conclude  they  imagined  us  to  be  "show  people  " 
also ;  for  they  continued  to  follow ;  but  after  the 
lunch  -  hamper  was  opened,  and  Mr.  Maybridgc 
asked,  "  Couutess,  will  you  have  sherry  or  sherry- 
and-water  ?  "  they  all  scampered  off,  evidently  too 
polite  to  stare  at  a  lady  eating  bread  and  butter ; 
so  showing  more  true,  instinctive  good  feeling  than 
a  person  in  the  rank  of  a  gentlewoman,  whom  I 
really  heard  call  to  her  two  daughters  to  "  come 
and  see  the  Prince  of  Wales  eat  strawberries,"  add- 
ing in  a  loud  voice,  a  voice  perfectly  audible  to  His 
Royal  Highness,  "He  eats  tliem  just  like  any  other 
man." 

Little  grey  mullet  do  well  in  an  aquarium;  they 
are  very  pretty,  and  I  think  a  goby  is  of  infinite 
use,  for  he  helps  to  disturb  the  water,  by  constantly 
darting  in  and  out  from  amongst  the  tufts  of  plants 
and  pieces  of  rock,  in  search  of  food :  small  mullets 
also  are  excessively  lively.  The  Cinderella  of  the 
tank  is  the  Periwinkle,  a  common  but  useful  mem- 


ber of  marine  society.  He  clears  the  glass  sides, 
enabling  you  to  see  with  perfect  facility  the  beauti- 
ful living  dowers  contained  within. 

"  Here  too,  were  living-  flowers, 
Which  like  a  bud  compacted, 
Their  purple  cups  contracted ; 
And  now  in  open  blossoms  spread, 
Stretch'd  like  green  anthers  many  a  seeking  head, 
And  arborets  of  jointed  stone  were  there, 
And  plants  of  fibres  fine  as  silkworm's  hair." 

Southey. 

Helen  E.  Watney. 
Bryn  Hyfryd,  near  Beaumaris. 


LARGE   WOOD-ANT 

{Formica  Herculanea). 

rTHIIS,  the  largest  of  our  British  ants,  is  very 
-*-  common  in  a  wood  in  this  neighbourhood  ;  and 
though  an  extremely  interesting  sketch  of  its  habits 
has  already  appeared  in  Science-Gossip,*  yet  per- 
haps two  or  three  more  of  its  traits  may  not  be 
unacceptable.  It  is  much  superior  in  size  to  the 
black,  red,  or  yellow  ants,  being  between  a  quarter 
and  half  an  inch  in  length.  Its  colour  is  of  a  dark 
brown,  but  lighter  on  the  thorax.  Last  September, 
while  strolling  through  a  wood,  I  derived  much 
amusement  from  noticing  its  habits.  I  then 
observed  numbers  of  these  ants  running  up  the 
stems  and  among  the  foliage  of  the  oak  bushes;  and 
on  looking  more  closely  to  ascertain  the  cause,  I 
found  that  numbers  of  the  ants  were  congregated 
round  the  large  dark-coloured,  wingless  aphides 
which  are  commonly  found  on  the  oak-twigs  in  the 
autumn  months.  The  youngest  reader  of  Science- 
Gossip  must  have  heard  or  read  of  what  the  ants 
do  with  the  aphides — how  the  ant  pats  the  side  of 
the  aphis  with  its  antennae,  and  makes  it  exude  a 
drop  of  honey-dew,  which  the  former  eagerly  licks 
up.  The  ants  of  which  I  am  speaking  were  thus 
eugaged,  busily  elbowing  their  way  among  their 
fellows,  and  persistently  tapping  the  aphides.  One 
large  and  corpulent  aphis  resented  this  familiarity 
by  kicking  out  its  hinder  legs  vigorously  whenever 
an  ant  approached,  and  thus  kept  the  honey-dew- 
loving  Eormicidae  at  a  respectful  distance.  I  suspect 
that  not  only  are  the  aphides  plundered  by  the  ants, 
but  are  also  occasionally  devoured,  for  I  noticed 
one  of  the  ants  seize  a  small  aphis,  and  very  un- 
ceremoniously carry  it  off.  Perhaps,  however,  it 
was  merely  taken  to  the  nest  to  afford  further  rich 
treats.  These  ants  are  very  pugnacious  among 
themselves,  fend  I  noticed  two  engaged  in  a  despe- 
rate pugilistic  encounter  on  an  oak-gall.  This  ant 
is  also  of  a  fierce  and  fearless  disposition  to  enemies 
greatly  superior  to  itself  in  size.  On  presenting  a 
finger  to  one  of  them,  it  immediately  placed  itself  in 

■  Vol.  ii.  p.  150. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIP. 


199 


a  defensive  posture  by  sitting  on  end,  elevating  its 
fore-feet  iu  a  threatening  manner,  and  making  stren- 
uous efforts  to  seize  the  finger,  which  was  not,  how- 
ever, permitted ;  so  that,  practically  speaking,  I  did 
not  become  acquainted  with  its  ferocity.  The  ants 
having  satisfied  their  appetites,  took  a  very  lazy 
way  of  reaching  the  ground ;  for  instead  of  descend- 
ing in  the  usual  way,  they  dropped  from  leaf  to  leaf, 
and  thus  reached  terra  firma.  Yesterday  (May  16) 
I  had  another  excellent  opportunity  of  watching 
the  habits  of  the  Wood-ant.  On  the  path  running 
through  a  wood  were  a  large  number  of  these  ants 
hurrying  about  with  great  activity  ;  some  going  in 
one  direction,  others  in  another.  Ever  anxious  to 
add  to  my  imperfect  knowledge  of  natural  history, 
1  stopped  and  watched  them  for  a  long  time.  In  a 
very  short  time  I  had  noticed  that  this  army  of 
ants  was  somewhat  unequally  divided  into  two 
parties  —  one  party  proceeding  to  the  right,  the 
other  to  the  left.  I  also  discovered  that  those 
marching  to  the  right  were  all  laden  with  provisions, 
and  pushed  forward  with  alacrity;  while  those 
going  to  the  left  were  empty-handed  (if  I  may  so 
express  it),  and  instead  of  marching  straightforward, 
were  proceeding  slowly,  and  hunting  over  every 
inch  of  ground  and  every  blade  of  grass.  The  ants 
going  to  the  right  were,  as  I  said  before,  laden  with 
provisions,  and  it  needed  no  prophet  to  tell  me  that 
the  nest  lay  in  that  direction.  Wishing  to  have  an 
opportunity  of  examining  a  nest,  I  was  about  to 
push  forward  with  that  intention,  when  happening 
to  look  up,  my  eyes  rested  on  one  of  those  terrible 
"  Take  Notices  "  which  menace  the  reader  with  all 
the  terrors  of  the  law  if  he  should  dare  to  place  his 
trespassing  foot  out  of  the  legal  six-inch  path.  Having 
a  great  respect  for  the  law,  I  forbore  gratifying  my 
curiosity,  and  therefore  turned  my  attention  to  the 
nature  of  the  provisions  carried  by  the  industrious 
ants.  I  found  them  to  be  dead  flies  of  different  kinds, 
bits  of  the  exuv'uv  or  cast-off  skins  of  other  insects,  and 
three  or  four  were  busily  lugging  to  the  right  the 
carcass  of  a  small  bee.  Then  several — I  may  say 
dozens — had  small  caterpillars  of  the  leaf-rolling 
moths  (Tortrices)  in  their  mouths,  and  others  were 
carrying  along  dead,  or  parts  of  dead,  comrades. 
Thus  we  see  that  the  little  leaf-rolling  caterpillar 
has  other  enemies  besides  birds  to  fear,  and  though 
it  may  often  escape  the  bill  of  the  bird  by  rolling 
out  of  its  tubular  dwelling  and  dropping  to  the 
ground  by  its  silken  thread,  yet  it  is  still  in  danger 
of  being  seized  as  lawful  spoil  by  some  ferocious 
Formica  Herculanea,  and  dragged  off  to  the  fir-leaf 
nest.  But  what  shall  we  say  respecting  the  dead 
and  mutilated  comrades?  How  shall  we  explain 
it  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the  defunct  ants  had  suc- 
cumbed to  the  cold  May  breezes  (what  an  anomaly) 
so  prevalent  here  the  last  few  days  ?  No,  I  should 
scarcely  thiuk  it  probable,  seeing  that  these  ants 
are  able  to  abide  the  frosts  of  winter,  and  come 


forth  again  in  March  or  April  none  the  worse  for 
their  sharp  experience.  I  tremble  to  bring  such  an 
awful  charge  against  the  Formica  Herculanea  ;  but 
I  reluctantly  believe  him  to  be  not  only  an  humble 
professor  of  the  "noble  art  of  self-defence,"  with  its 
concomitants  of  fierce  blows  and  sudden  abridge- 
ments of  life,  but,  alas  for  the  poetical  associations 
of  ant-dom !  a  cannibal  into  the  bargain.  A  last 
gleam  of  hope.  Perhaps  the  ants  were  about  to 
remove  their  dead  comrades  to  the  family  mauso- 
leum, previously  securing  the  services  of  that  ritual- 
istic-looking undertaker  the  Burying -beetle,  and 
likewise  engaging  the  most  plaintive  nightingales 
in  the  neighbourhood  to  wail  solemn  requiems  to 
the  memory  of  the  departed — pugilist.  How  ro- 
mantic. William  Henry  Warner. 
Kingston,  Abingdon. 


A  NEW  BRITISH  MOSS 

{Thuidiiim  decipiens,  De  Notaris). 

FN  the  spring  of  1868  I  discovered  a  moss  grow- 
-*-  ing  abundantly  by  the  side  of  a  streamlet,  and 
about  springs  on  the  Clova  mountains.  It  had 
the  aspect  of  a  cross  between  Hypnum  commuta- 
tion, and  Hylocomium  umbratum,  but  seemed  not 
only  different  from  these,  but  from  all  other  British 
mosses.  On  this  account  it  was  immediately  sent  to 
the  late  Mr.  Wilson,  who,  if  I  remember  rightly, 
declared  it  to  be  a  form  of  Hypnum  commutatum . 
With  this  decision  I  was  satisfied  at  the  time,  but 
upon  a  re-examination  of  the  moss  early  in  1870, 1 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  clearly  different 
from  any  British,  European,  or  American  species 
described  in  Wilson's  "  Bryologia  Britannica," 
Schimper's  "  Synopsis,"  or  Grey's  "  Manual."  Ac- 
cordingly I  issued  it  as  a  new  species  under  the 
name  Hypnum  rigidulum.  Mr.  Wilson,  on  his  at- 
tention being  re-directed  to  it,  finally  pronounced  it 
to  be  a  form  of  Hypnum  falcatum,  Bridel ;  and,  with 
one  exception,  all  the  other  bryologists  to  whom  I 
sent  it,  some  of  whom  were  of  the  highest  standing 
in  this  country  and  on  the  continent,  regarded  it  as 
only  a  form  of  Hypnum  commutatum.  The  influ- 
ence of  such  authority  was  so  great,  that  1  was-  very 
reluctantly  subsiding  into  the  general  opinion,  when, 
quite  recently,  Juratzka  received' the  23rd  fascicle 
of  Rabenhorst's  "  Bryotheca  Europaea,"  containing 
specimens  of  Thuidium  decipiens  of  Notaris.  These 
he  compared  with  the  specimens  of  Hypnum  rigi- 
dulum, and  found  the  two  identical  in  all  particulars. 
This  interesting  moss  seems  to  have  been  first 
gathered,  but  in  a  barren  state  (like  our  own),  in 
Finnmark,  by  Ritter  von  Erauenfeld,  in  1863 ;  but, 
though  distributed  by  him  at  the  time,  was  not  re- 
cognized as  an  independent  species  distinct  from 
Hypnum  commutatum.  It  was  afterwards,  but  in 
what  year  I  do  not  know,  discovered  in  Italy,  I 


200 


IHARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIP. 


believe,  ripening  its  fruit,  not  in  early  summer,  like 
Hypnum  commutatum,  but  late  in'autumn ;  and  its 
specific  character  was  recognized  by  De  Notaris,  who 
attached  to  it  a  very  appropriate  name.    1  have  nei- 
ther seen  fruit,  nor  a  description  of  fruit ;  but,  even 
in   a  barren    state,    Thuidium  decipiens    is    abun- 
dantly distinct  from  Hypmm  commutatum,  as  the 
following  description  shows  :— Stems  villous,  rigid, 
suberect  or  ascending,  2  to  4  inches  long,  with  2  to  4 
slightly  arcuate  innovations  which  are  irregularly  pin- 
nate ;  branches  short,  attenuate,  also  villous ;  stem- 
leaves  distant,  widely  spreading  or  subsquarrose,  dis- 
tinctly revealing.the  luxuriant  foliose  villi,  tortuous 
when  dry,  concave,  broadly  deltoid-ovate,  suddenly 
acuminate,  auricled  at  the  base,  serrate,  strongly 
plicate,  2)clpitt°se  on  both  sides,  sometimes  secund 
towards  the  top  of  the  stem,  but  never  circulate"; 
branch-leaves  much  smaller,  more  crowded,  less  pli- 
cate, spreading  every  way  or  secuud,  ovate  or  ovate, 
lanceolate ;  nerve  single,  generally  dissolving  near 
the  apex,  sometimes  ceasing  halfway ;  areolae  rather 
large,  oval-elongate,  somewhat  coufused  in  the  upper 
part,  suddenly  much  enlarged,  elongate-hexagonal  and 
pellucid  at  the  base ;  villi  very  luxuriant,  life-like, 
reticulate,    denticulate,    lanceolate ;    inflorescence 
dioicous ;  colour  dull  green.    On  the  Clova  moun- 
tains Thuidium  decipiens  occurs  at  an  elevation  of 
about  2,800  feet,  and  is  associated   with  Webera 
Breidleri,  another  new  British  moss,  with  Oncopho- 
rus  virens,  and  a  large  brownish-yellow  form  of 
Hypnum    callichroum,   exceedingly  like  Hypnum 
Bambergeri.     Within  five  minutes'  walk  of  this  we 
have  gathered  such  rare  and  interesting  plants  as 
Hypnum  subsulcatum,  Hypnum  Muhlenbeckii,  Bux- 
baumia    aphylla,    Barbula     Drummondii,  Grimmia 
robusta,  Ciuclidium  stygium,  Dissodon  splachnoides, 
Dicranum  longifolium,  Distichum  inclinatum,  In- 
nium  cinclidioides,  Splachnum  vasculosum,  Catasco- 
pium  amblyodon,  Bartramia  seriata,  and    Bryum 
Duvalii.    A  second  station  for  this  moss  was  discov- 
ered by  Mr.  Sim  and  myself  near  Auchiublae,  Kin- 
cardineshire, at  an  altitude  of  about  800  feet.    There 
its  associates  were  Iunium    cinclidioides,  Innium 
affine,  var.  rugicum,  Ciuclidium  stygium,  Brachythe- 
cum  Mildeanum,  Hypnum  vernicosum.    It  probably 
occurs  in  many  parts  of  the  country. 

Hev.  J.  Eergusson. 


BATS. 

TTAVING  for  years  past  been  greatly  annoyed 
-LJ-  with  the  ravages  of  rats,  I  have  had  great 
opportunity  of  noticing  some  (as  it  appears  to  me) 
emarkable  signs  of  sagacity  in  them,  many  of 
which  seem  rather  perplexing.  It  is  truly  sur- 
prising to  see  how,  in  a  single  night,  they  have 
eaten  large  holes  through  doors  and  partitions  of  a 
very  substantial  character.  Of  course,  when  we 
consider  the  formation  of  their  teeth,  all  cause  for 


wonder  disappears.    But  what  perplexes  me  is  this, 
in  each  instance  where  the  doors  are  well  repaired 
and  lined  with  sheet  iron,   the  wood  was  never 
touched,  although  the  iron  was  on  the  outer  or  op- 
posite side  of  the  door  to  the  rats,  and  certainly 
could  not  even  be  seen  by  them.    Still  they  would 
make  their  way  through  brick-work,  making  sad 
havoc  with  the  drains.    To  put  a  stop  to  this,  we 
had  pipe  drains  put  down,  which  are  proof  to  the 
assaults  of  their  teeth ;  but  they  would  manage  to 
travel  about  the  place,  making  their  runs  through 
these  pipes ;  and  if  there  was  a  run  of  100  yards, 
a  broken  pipe  cemented  (so  as  to  keep  the  water 
out),  or  in  fact  any  plaee  only  protected  by  cement, 
they  found  it  out,  and  if  the  aperture  could  be  made 
large  enough,  were  soon  through,  making  us  aware 
of  the  fact  by  the  water  pouring  out.     Iu  one  run 
which  troubled  us  a  good  deal,  we  tried  all  sorts  of 
manoeuvres,— broken  glass  put  iu  with  the  mortar, 
and  sharp  stones,  but  all  to  no  purpose.  At  length, 
by   filling  the  hole  well  with  tow  and  tar    well 
rammed   in,    we    kept   them    out    entirely.    The 
manner  in  which  they  committed  their  depredations 
was  often  rather  puzzling.    For  instance  they  used 
to  make  havoc  with  our  flasks  of  oil ;  and  supposing 
that  they  managed  this  by  throwing  the  flasks  over, 
we  (on  getting  a  fresh  supply)  packed  them  tightly 
on  a  shelf,  so  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  be 
upset ;  we  found,  however,  one  morning  that  our  old 
enemies  had  been  at  work  again.    They  had  eaten 
away  the  skin  which  covers  the  top  of  the  flask, 
drawn  out  the  cotton  wool,  with  which  the  neck  is 
always  filled,  and  abstracted  some  of  the  oil ;  not  an 
easy  task  one  would  think,  when  the  size  and  forma- 
tion of  the  animal,  and  the  long  neck  and  compara- 
tively small  aperture  of  the  flask,  are  considered. 
We  somtimes  trapped  them,  but  we  had  the  utmost 
of  our  ingenuity  often  taxed  to  effect  this.  At  times 
they  would  nibble  away  the  bait  most  dexterously 
without  the  spring  being  touched ;  at  other  times, 
put  which  bait  we  would,  we  could  not  get  them 
near  it.    We  found  the  large  square  wire  traps  best 
as  a  rule ;  we  also  tried  a  trap  made  of  tolerably 
large  pieces  of  stone,  the  entrance  to  which  was  by 
an  opening  at  the  top,  and  a  tolerably  heavy  piece  of 
stone  or  a  brick  propped  over  it  by  means  of  a  piece 
of  stick,  at  the  base  of  which  was  the  bait,  which,  if 
touched,  brought  the  brick  or  stone  down,    quite 
closiug  the  aperture,  and  if  the  depredator  was  in- 
side, placing  him  in  durance  vile.    But  they  man- 
aged to  thwart  and  vex  us,  for  we  found  the  stone 
down,  but  the  bait  and  thief  both  gone.    This  oc- 
curred repeatedly,  aud  could  only  have  been  effected 
by  the  animal  holding  up  the  stone  by  its  back, 
drawing  out  the  bait  with  its  fore-feet,  letting  the 
stone  gradually  fall,  and  quickly  slipping  backwards 
to  escape  it.    A  friend  of  mine  missed  some  eggs 
out  of  the  heu-house,  and  as  this  was  repeated  rather 
frequently,  he  placed  himself  on  watch,  when   he 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


201 


soon  found  the  thieves  to  be  rats.  He  saw  one  rat 
carrying  an  egg  in  his  fore-paws,  and  being  dragged 
along  backwards  by  another  rat.  I  was  mentioning 
this  to  a  friend  just  lately,  who  said  he  had  seen 
a  similar  occurrence.  It  is  probable  I  may  now 
have  said  quite  enough  ;  at  all  events,  my  oppor- 
tunities for  studying  the  peculiarities  of  these 
creatures  seem  to  be  over,  for,  their  numbers  con- 
tinuing to  increase,  and  their  destructiveness  being 
almost  unbearable,  we  introduced  a  cat,  and,  most 
curiously,  we  have  seen  or  heard  nothing  of  our  old 
acquaintances  since.  W.  C.  H. 

HISTOLOGY. 

PROFESSOR  -ALLAN  THOMSON,  in  his 
opening  address  in  the  Biological  Section 
of  the  British  Association,  said  : — "I  need  scarcely 
remind  tbose  present  that  it  was  only  within  a  few 
years  before  the  foundation  of  the  British  Associ- 
ation that  the  suggestions  of  Lister  in  regard  to  the 
construction  of  achromatic  lenses  brought  the  com- 
pound microscope  into  such  a  state  of  improvement 
as  caused  it  to  be  restored,  as  I  might  say,  to  the 
place  which  the  more  imperfect  instrument  had  lost 
in  the  previous  century.  The  result  of  this  restor- 
ation became  apparent  in  the  foundation  of  a  new 
era  in  the  knowledge  of  the  minute  characters  of 
textureal  structure,  under  the  joint  guidance  of 
R.  Brown  and  Ehrenberg,  so  as  at  last  to  have 
entitled  this  branch  of  inquiry  to  its  designation,  by 
Mr.  Huxley,  of  the  exhaustive  investigation  of 
structural  elements.  All  who  hear  me  are  fully 
aware  of  the  influence  which,  from  1S38  onwards, 
the  researches  of  Schwann  and  Schleiden  exerted  on 
the  progress  of  Histology  and  the  views  of  anato- 
mists and  physiologists  as  to  the  structure  and 
development  of  the  textures,  and  the  prodigious 
increase  which  followed  in  varied  microscopic  ob- 
servations. It  is  not  for  me  here  even  to  allude  to 
the  steps  of  that  rapid  progress  by  which  a  new 
branch  of  anatomical  science  has  been  created;  nor 
can  I  venture  to  enter  upon  any  of  the  interesting 
questions  presented  by  this  department  of  the  mi- 
croscopic anatomy ;  nor  attempt  to  discuss  any  of 
those  possessing  so  much  interest  at  the  present 
moment ;  such  as  the  nature  of  the  organized  cell 
or  the  properties  of  protoplasm.  I  would  only  re- 
mark that  it  is  now  very  generally  admitted  that 
the  cell-wall  (as  Schwann  indeed  himself  pointed 
out)  is  not  a  source  of  new  production,  though  still 
capable  of  considerable  structural  change  after  the 
time  of  its  first  formation.  The  nucleus  has  also  lost 
some  of  the  importance  attached  to  it  by  Schwann 
and  his  earlier  followers,  as  an  essential  constituent 
of  the  cell,  while  the  protoplasm  of  the  cell  remains 
in  undisputed  possession  of  the  field  as  the  more 
immediate  seat  of  the  phenomena  of  growth  and 
organization,  and  of  the  contractable  property  which 


forms  so  remarkable  a  feature  of  their  substance. 
I  cordially  agree  with  much  of  what  Mr.  Huxley 
wrote  on  this  subject  in  1853  and  18G9.  The  term 
physical  basis  of  life  may  perhaps  be  in  some  trifling 
respect  objectionable,  but  I  look  upon  the  recog- 
nition of  protoplasm,  as  a  general  term  indicating 
that  part  of  the  tissue  of  plants  and  animals  which 
is  the  constant  seat  of  the  growing  and  moving 
powers,  as  a  most  important  step  in  the  recent  pro- 
gress of  histology.  To  Haechel  the  fuller  history 
of  this  in  lowest  forms  is  due.  To  Dr.  Eeale  we 
owe  the  fullest  investigation  of  these  properties  by 
the  use  of  magnifying  powers  beyond  any  that  had 
previously  been  known,  and  the  successful  employ- 
ment of  reagents  which  appear  to  mark  out  its 
distinction  from  the  other  elements  of  the  textures. 
I  may  remark,  however,  in  passing,  that  I  am  in- 
clined to  regard  contractile  protoplasm,  whether 
vegetable  or  animal,  as  in  no  instance  entirely  amor- 
phous or  homogeneous,  but  rather  as  always  pre- 
senting some  minute  molecular  structure  which 
distinguishes  it  from  parts  of  glassy  clearness. 
Admitting  that  the  form  it  assumes  is  not  neces- 
sarily that  of  a  regular  cell,  and  may  be  various  and 
irregular  in  a  few  exceptional  instances,  I  am  not 
on  that  account  disposed  to  give  up  definite  struc- 
ture as  one  of  the  universal  characteristics  of  organ- 
ization in  living  bodies.  I  would  also  suggest  that 
the  terms  formative  and  nonformative,  or  some 
others,  should  be  substituted  for  those  of  living  and 
dead,  employed  by  Dr.  Beale  to  distinguish  the 
protoplasm  from  the  cell-wall  or  its  derivation,  as 
those  terms  are  liable  to  introduce  confusion." 

WHITE  VARIETIES. 

"TTTHATEVER  may  be  the  primary  cause  of 
*  »  albinism,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  it 
becomes  hereditary.  The  white  varieties  of  wild 
plauts  are  probably  propagated  by  seed  as  readily  as 
those  which  receive  the  care  of  the  floriculturist. 

Not  long  since  I  observed  an  extensive  thickly- 
set  patch  of  the  common  thistle  {Carduus  arvensis), 
var.  flore  albo,  occupying  the  grassy  border  of  a 
chalky  road,  and  fringing  it  for  about  GO  feet  of  its 
length.  Every  plant  bore  white  blossoms,  and  not 
a  coloured  head  was  to  be  seen  amongst  many  hun- 
dred individuals,  except  in  the  front  and  rear  of  the 
line,  where  the  blue  cockades  of  the  typical  form 
began  to  be  intermingled  with  the  white  brigade. 
As  there  was  apparently  nothing  in  the  plot  of 
ground  occupied  by  these  plants  different  from  that 
in  the  vicinity,  it  cannot  be  that  they  were  all  due 
to  accidental  contemporary  variation ;  but  they  must 
have  been  the  result  of  a  previous  seeding.  White 
varieties  of  thistles  and  other  species  are  common 
in  the  district,  which  lies  on  the  chalk.  I  think  I 
have  noticed  albinism  to  occur  more  frequently  in  a 
calcareous  soil  than  elsewhere.  R.  B.  S. 


202 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSI  P. 


ON  THE  FOSSIL  PLANT  KNOWN  AS 
CAL  AMITE. 

IT  may  be  of  interest  to  the  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip  to  learn  a  little  relative  to  the  struc- 
ture of  some  of  the  plants  that  flourished  during  the 
coal  formation. 

In  opening  the  subject  to  my  readers  I  shall 
begin  by  describing  the  structure  of  a  plant  known 
to  geologists  as  the  Calamite. 

This  plant  is  looked  upon  by  the  generality  of 
geologists  as  a  slender-jointed  reed-like  plant ;  the 
outside  of  wbich  was  fluted  like  the  columns  of 
some  of  the  ancient  temples,  and  the  specimens 
shown  to  us  in  proof  of  this  are  the  flattened  shaly 
or  rounded  sandstone  casts  of 
the  plant  preserved  in  most  of 
our  public  museums.  So  far  as 
the  plant  having  a  jointed  stem, 
the  idea  is  correct  (and  in  this 
feature  it  resembles  the  horse- 
tails of  the  present  day ;  some 
geologists  asserting  that  the 
two  plants  are  very  close  rela- 
tions). My  own  observations 
in  investigating  the  structure 
of  the  Calamite  bear  me  out  in 
saying  that  it  was  not  a  slender 
plant  with  a  fluted  exterior, 
but  that  it  possessed  a  strong 
woody  cylinder,  with  a  bark 
forming  a  regular  smooth  outer 
surface,  and  that  those  speci- 
mens shown  to  us  in  our 
museums  as  the  form  of  the 
Calamite,  are  but  the  casts  of 
the  inside  (not  the  outside)  of 
the  plant. 

Being  favourably  situated  for 
collecting  these  fossil  plants 
showing  structure,  and  having 
been  engaged  in  collecting  them 
for  more  than  seven  years,  I  am 
now  in  possession  of  a  great 
variety  of  known  and  unknown  forms.  I  have  been 
particularly  fortunate  in  finding  specimens  of  the 
Calamite s  showing  their  structure,  in  some  cases  as 
perfect  as  when  living.  Being  able  also  to  cut  and 
grind  down  my  own  specimens,  I  think  I  may  say 
that  I  bave  literally  dissected  the  plant  we  have 
under  notice. 

The  sketches  are  from  specimens  in  my  own 
cabinet,  and  will  illustrate  the  internal  structure  of 
a  few  of  this  tribe  of  plants.  Eig.  107  shows  a 
transverse  section  of  a  Calamite,  with  its  cortical 
layer  surrounding  the  cylinder  of  woody  wedges ; 
the  stem  seems  as  perfect  as  when  living;  not  a  cell 
or  vessel  is  displaced.    It  will  be  seen  that  at  the 


point  of  each  woody  wedge  there  is  'a  rather  large 
orifice  or  canal ;  this  canal  is  found  to  traverse  the 
whole  length  of  each  wedge  between  the  nodes  or 
joints  of  the  plant.  The  structure  of  the  tissue 
immediately  around  this  canal  is  scalariform,  and 
would  seem  to  point  to  its  cryptogamic  relation- 
ship"; but  as  you  get  further  into  the  woody  wedge, 
the  structure  gets  more  like  that  of  the  Dic- 
tyoxylons,  the  vessels  being  reticulated.*  Eig.  108 
represents  a  vertical  section  of  the  same  plant  cut 
through  the  node,  and  it  will  be  seen  from  this 
sketch  that  the  cellular  tissue  filling  the  spaces 
between  the  woody  wedges,  and  also  filling  a  por- 
tion of  the  axis,  does  not  cross  the  axis,  except  at 
the  node  (this  is  a  feature  to  be  found  in  the  pre- 
sent  equisetums).      This  cellular  tissue  assumes 


Fig.  107. 

different  forms  in  different  plants:  in  some  they 
are  nearly  circular,  in  others  of  a  hexagonal  form, 
and  in  others  they  are  of  an  oblong  form,  in  some 
cases  stretching  from  one  woody  wedge  to  another, 
as  shown  in  fig.  111.  In  a  vertical  section  of  the 
cellular  tissue  they  are  seen  sometimes  very  much 
elongated,  not  unlike  a  vessel  divided  at  intervals 
transversely;  sometimes  they  assume  a  fusiform 
character.  By  referring  to  fig.  109,  being  a  tan- 
gental  section  of  the  woody  cylinder  taken  at  the 

*  I  have  seen  Calanrites  with  nothing:  but  scalariform 
yessels  forming  the  woody  wedges ;  so  that  the  above  must 
have  been  a  higher  type  of  Calamite  than  the  one  here 
referred  to. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC1EN CE-GOSSIP. 


203 


node,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  woody  wedges  do  not 
continue  uninterrupted  the  whole  length  of  the 
plant,  but  that  they  divide  at  each  node ;  one  half 
goes  to  the  right,  and  one  half  to  the  left,  to  form 


vessels  are  cut  nearly  transversely  at  the  node,  and 
so  give  rise  to  the  appearance  of  the  vessels  at  a, 
fig.  108. 
It  lias  been  both  affirmed  aud  denied   by  fossil 


the  next  wedge  above  the  node.    This  arrangement  I  botanists  that  this  plant  possessed  medullary  rays  ; 


Fijr    10S. 


Hg\  209. 


'  T  Rt  II  "fifflfl  Ifflfl  II  ISIfflfl  MIBIfflTR  IH 


II      H 


w 


Mitel 


W: 


Fig.  110. 


of  the  vessels,  as  seen  in  the  tangental  section,  gives 
the  peculiar  form  the  vessels  assume  as  seen  at  the 
node  in  the  vertical  section,  fig.  103.  Suppose  a 
vertical  section  is  cut  as  represented  by  the  line 
a,  b,  drawn  through  fig.  109,  it  will  be  seen  that  the 


many  of  my  sections  seem  to  prove  the  question 
beyond  doubt  (see  fig.  108).  The  distinguishing 
feature  of  this  tribe  of  plants  has  been  the  presence 
of  the  canal  at  the  point  of  each  woody  wedge :  I 
have  specimens  in  my  cabinet  which  show  a  depar- 


204 


HARDWICKE'S    SCI  ENCE- GOSSIP. 


ture  from  this  rule,  for  the  wedge  runs  off  to  a  fine 
point,  and  no  appearance  of  the  canal  is  to  be  seen 
(see  fig.  111).  In  another  specimen  the  canals  are 
seen  at  regular  intervals,  but  no  woody  wedges 
whatever ;  it  has  one  continuous  vascular  cylinder, 
as  seen  in  the  Dadoxylons  (see  fig.  110).  In  some 
plants  the  woody  wedges  are  very  numerous,  with 
a  very  thin  cellular  tract  between  them ;  in  others 
the  wedges  are  few,  with  a  broad  cellular  tract 


<tfo°o 


0uO°°°:- 


Fi<r.  111. 


extending  to  the  bark ;  this  difference  in  individual 
plants  shows  a  great  tendency  to  variation.  The 
bark  of  the  Calamite  is  very  delicate,  and  explains 
the  reason  why  so  few  plants  are  found  with  traces 
of  the  bark. 

A  memoir  has  lately  been  read  before  the  Royal 
Society  by  Prof.  Williamson  on  Calamitea ;  the 
subject  is  anything;  but  exhausted,  and  we  may 
look  forward  with  interest  to  the  publication  of  this 
memoir.  If  circumstances  permit,  I  will  send,  from 
time  to  time,  descriptions  of  the  different  known 
fossil  plants  that  I  have  met  with  in  our  coal  seams. 

John  Butterworth. 
Goats  Shaw,  near  Oldham. 

PROTECTIVE  MIMICRY. 

THERE  has  been  much  written  of  late  on  the 
subject  of  "  protective  mimicry,"  but  the  most 
striking  examples  have  been  taken  from  exotic 
species.  A  practical  illustration  of  the  working  of 
the  same  principle  nearer  home  has  recently  oc- 


curred in  my  experience,  and  is  perhaps  worth 
recording.  If  to  outwit  man  be  a  proof  of  higher 
art  than  to  deceive  birds,  then  the  mimicry  displayed 
by  some  of  our  native  species  will  compare  advan- 
tageously with  the  cases  described  by  Wallace  and 
Bates.  A  few  weeks  ago,  on  a  bright  July  day, 
while  sauntering  along  a  Cambridgeshire  lane,  I 
espied  what  appeared  to  be  a  very  fine  individual  of 
the  wasp  tribe  sunning  itself  on  the  leaf  of  a  sallow. 
With  this  impression  I  should  certainly  have  de- 
clined a  closer  acquaintanceship,  but  having  a  friend 
who  is  on  somewhat  intimate  terms  with  the  Hy- 
menoptera,  I  felt  a  vicarious  interest  in  the  creature, 
and  determined  to  attempt  its  capture.  Remember- 
ing the  provincial  rhyme  of  the  "  harnet  "  that  "  sat 
on  a  hollow  tree,"  and  what  "  a  proper  spiteful 
twoad  was  he,"  I  proceeded  with  caution.  The 
warlike  insect  showed  no  signs  of  fear  at  my  nearer 
approach,  but  significantly  clapped  its  hand  on  its 
sword,  or,  to  speak  less  metaphorically,  kept  raising 
its  abdomen  and  elongating  the  anal  segments,  as 
is  the  fashion  among  wasps,  so  unpleasantly  sug- 
gestive of  a  sharp  weapon  ready  to  be  drawn  from 
its  gilded  sheath  to  resent  affront — 

"  Et  seepe  attollunt  humeris,  et  corpora  bello 
Objectant." 

Being  destitute  of  any  entomologieal  apparatus,  I 
had  recourse  to  the  simple  expedient  of  trying  to 
envelop  it  in  my  pocket-handkerchief,  which  was 
easily  accomplished.  On  arriving  home,  my  pri- 
soner presented  a  strangely  worn,  shabby  appear- 
ance, and  exhibited  a  mildness  of  demeanour  which 
caused  me  to  examine  him  more  narrowly,  and  I 
then  discovered  how  thoroughly  I  had  mistaken  his 
name  and  maligned  his  nature.  I  had  unwittingly 
caught  a  very  harmless  and  rather  rare  moth,  one 
of  the  Clear-wings,  Trochilium  (Spkecia)  crabroni- 
forme.  I  will  only  remark  further,  chat  the  close 
resemblance  of  this  species  to  a  hornet,  as  indicated 
by  its  specific  name,  is  not  confined  to  mere  outside 
show,  but  extends  to  its  deportment.  It  acts  in 
character,  the  threatening  movements  of  the  ab- 
domen exactly  mimicking  those  of  the  restless, 
irritable  "  tails  "  of  the  Vespidge  proper. 

Manchester.  R.  B.  S. 


Hairs  of  Sundew.— At  page  212  of  Science- 
Gossip,  for  1870,  "  W.  W."  desires  to  be  informed 
how  he  can  prepare  the  beautiful  glands  on  the 
leaves  of  Droscra  rotiaidifolia,  so  well  figured  and 
described  at  page  111  of  the  same  volume.  I  beg 
to  inform  him  that  I  have  succeeded  in  preparing 
the  glands  to  show  the  spiral  vessels,  by  soaking  in 
ordinary  glycerine  a  few  days,  which  extracts  the 
colouring  matter ;  and  should  he  desire  to  preserve 
them  permanently,  mount  in  glycerine  jelly. — /. 
Maughan,  Barnard  Castle, 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


205 


MARKINGS  OE  THE  PODURA  SCALE. 

SUCH  a  question  as  this,  that  we  all  thought 
was  long  since  a  settled  one,  makes  it  seem 
curious  to  have  it  asked  at  the  present  time.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  case ;  for  those  who  have  read 
the  recent  controversy  between  Dr.  Piggott  and 
Mr.  Wenham  must  again,  in  order  to  satisfy  them- 
selves, re-investigate  the  subject,  so  as  to  determine 
whether  we  are  to  accept  the  old  ! !  !  markings  or 
the  new  "  beaded "  ones  as  the  true  markings  on 
the  scale.  Without  determining  which  is  right 
or  wrong,  I  beg  to  submit  the  following  twelve 
different  appearances  of  the  scale  of  the  Podura, 
obtained  under  every  phase  of  oblique  light,  as  far 
as  I  could  manage  it.  I  shall  now  proceed  to 
explain  how  these  results  were  obtained,  and  leave 


l-16th  objective,  made  by  Powell  &  Lealand, 
London,  illuminating  the  scale  with  Ross's  4-10th 
achromatic  condenser,  having  109°  aperture,  B  stop 
and  the  concave  mirror.  These  were  the  means  by 
which  I  obtained  the  various  markings,  which  I 
have  roughly  sketched  and  enclosed  with  this  paper 


■flit 


w 


w 


Fig.  112. 


Fig.  113. 


Fig.  114. 


the  rest  in  the  hands  of  those  who  care  to  experi- 
mentalize on  this  object,  and  hence  determine  the 
truth  for  themselves.  Previously  to  making  my 
examination  of  the  Podura  scale,  I  did  not  feel 
content  with  having  the  object  mounted  with  thin 
glass,  as  I  know  false  appearances  are  often  ob- 
tained by  the  glare  from  the  cover  when  careful 


Fig.  us, 


adjustment  of  the  screw-collar  of  the  objective  is 
omitted  to  be  made.  I  therefore  obtained  a  fine 
specimen  of  the  Podura,  from  which,  by  letting  the 
insect  hop  about  on  a  piece  of  velvet  and  knock 
itself  against  a  thin  glass  slide  which  I  held  over 
it,  I  obtained  a  nice  supply  of  scales,  not  too 
thickly  placed  on  the  slide.  I  then  proceeded  to 
examine  this  as  a  dry  object,  uncovered,  under  my 
large  Ross  A 1  microscope,  using  an  A  eye-piece, 


Fig.  118. 


Fig.  119. 


Fig.  120. 


— considering  it  may  be  useful  at  the  present  time, 
as  the  insects  are  just  now  abundant,  and  ready  to 
supply  any  one  who  requires  it  with  fine  specimens 
of  scales.  I  conceive  these  varied  figures  are  the 
result  of  peculiar  incidences  of  light  upon  the 
object;  but  still  they  are  interesting,  as  they  show 
the  various  effects  producible  by  the  play  of  light 


Fig.  121. 


Fig.  122. 


Fig.  123. 


on  such  refractive  objects.  The  following  is  a  sum- 
mary for  reference  to  each  scale  as  it  is  numbered. 
Fig.  112  had  the  light  thrown  from  the  left-hand  side 
of  the  mirror,  at  an  angle  of  45°.  Pig.  113  had  the 
mirror  somewhat  more  slanted.  Pig.  114,  light 
thrown  up  direct.  Pig.  115,  light  more  oblique. 
Pig.  116,  upright  scale  under  same  conditions.  The 
rest  of  the  scales  were  more  or  less  similarly 
treated,  but  were  lying  in  various  planes  to  the 
direction  of  the  oblique  light.  It  was  no  matter 
how  I  "rotated"  the  scale  or  changed  the  mirror, 
some  one  of  these  markings  always  appeared.  1 
finally  took  away  the  condenser,  and  then  my  old 
friends  the  !  !!  markings  returned  from  their  hiding- 
place,  painfully  evident ;  nor  could  I  with  the 
mirror  illumination,  though  I  tried  very  many 
ways,  resolve  the  "  bulk "  of  the  scales  into  the 
new  forms  which  I  had  obtained  by  the  use  of  the 
condenser.  In  conclusion,  I  must  add,  that  my 
investigations  were  made  by  night,  with  a  Bel- 


206 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


montine  reading-lamp,  and  also  with  the  bull's-eye 
condenser,  arranged  to  throw  its  rays  on  the 
mirror.  Ralph  H.  Westropp,  B.A.,  T.C.D. 

Attyflin  Park. 


WINDHOVERING. 

I  HAVE  been  reading  lately  the  "  Reign  of  Law  " 
by  the  Duke  of  Argyll,   and  in  the  chapter 
on  the  machinery  of  flight  of  birds,  felt  greatly 
delighted  with  the  observations  and  suggestions. 
There  cannot,  I  should  think,  be  a  doubt  that  the 
explanations  given  by  him  are  correct  and  true 
— that  just  as  a  man,  in  swimming,  advances  on 
the  sides  of  a  wedge  of  water  by  approximating  his 
legs,  so  a  bird  progresses,  in  flying,  by  squeezing 
backwards  the  wedge  of  air  embraced  by  every  beat 
of  the  wings,  the  feathers  being  so  arranged,  that 
motion  forward  must  be  the  necessary  result  of 
every  stroke,  without  any  special  effort  on  the  part 
of  the  bird  ;  but  when  his  Grace  goes  on  to  describe 
the  wonderful  power  of  windhovering  possessed  by 
some  birds,  although  I  dothiuk  his  exposition  good, 
I  believe  it  is  a  power  given  to  a  much  greater 
number  of  birds  than  he  supposes.     "  No  bird  can 
exercise  this  power  which  is  not  provided  with 
wings  large  enough,  long  enough,  and  powerful 
enough,  to  sustain  its  weight  with  ease,  and  without 
violent  exertion."      "Birds    with   superabundant 
sustaining    power,   and    long    sharp  wings,   have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  diminish  the  length  of  stroke, 
and  direct  it  off  the  perpendicular  at  such  an  angle 
as  will  bring  all  the  forces  bearing  upon  their  body  to 
an  exact  balance,  and  they  will  thenremain  stationary 
at  a  fixed  point  in  the  air."    From  the  remaining 
context  I  am  led  to  suppose  his  Grace  believes  that 
only  birds  with  long  sharp  wings — those  with  the 
first  or  second  primary  feathers  longest— are  invested 
with  this  power ;    but  the  Whinchat  is  a  capital 
windhoverer,  and  so  are  the  TVhitethroat  and  Wag- 
tail.   I  have  seen  the  Spotted  Fly-catcher  perform 
the  evolutions,  and  lately7,  to  my  great  delight,  a 
Blackbird,  in  its  efforts  to  catch  a  humble  bee — a 
chase  that  lasted,  perhaps,  a  minute.    If  all  these 
round-winged  birds  can,  on  occasion,  perform  this 
trick  of  flight,  the  thought  is  naturally  suggested, 
why  may  not  every  bird,  whose  time  is  chiefly  spent 
in  the  air,  possess  this  power,  if  it  choose  to  exercise 
it ;  for  has  not  God  given  to  all  birds  of  this  class 
a  superabundant  sustaining  beat  of  wing?    Let  us 
take  the  birds  above  mentioned  and  compare  their 
measurements  with  those  of  the  Kestrel,  the  beau 
ideal  of  a  hoverer.    The  length  of  the  Whinchat  is 
5  inches,  the  stretch  of  wings  9£  inches ;  the  White- 
throat,  length  54  inches,  stretch  of  wings  84  inches ; 
the  Wagtail,  length  74  inches,  stretch  of  wings  12 
inches  ;  the  Spotted  Flycatcher,  length  54  inches, 
stretch  of  wings  9  inches ;  the  Blackbird,  length 


104  inches,  stretch  of  wings  16  inches ;  the  Kestrel, 
length  15  inches,  stretch  of  wings  27  inches.  Now, 
if  mere  stretch  of  wing  would  decide  this  matter, 
we  should,  a  priori,  suppose  that  the  Whinchat 
would  be  a  better  windhoverer  than  the  Kestrel, 
and  that  most  probably  the  Blackbird  could  not 
hover  at  all ;  but  as  such  is  not  the  fact,  it  behoves 
us  to  search  for  a  further  reason  for  the  exercise  of 
this  power  than  that  given  by  the  Duke ;  and  I 
would  suggest  that  the  expanded  tail  is  the  chief 
agent.  When  the  Kestrel  is  searching  a  district, 
his  body  appears  almost  upright,  his  tail  spread  to 
the  utmost  and  bent  forwards,  and  his  wings  half- 
shut  and  quivering.  Whether  it  has  the  power  of 
altering  the  position  of  the  secondary  feathers 
with  every  beat  of  the  wing,  I  know  not;  but  cer- 
tainly the  upright  position  of  the  body  would  make 
a  large  part  of  every  wave  of  air  created  by  the 
wing-stroke  beat  against  the  expanded  tail,  and 
neutralize,  to  the  necessary  extent,  the  forward 
motion  of  the  remainder  of  the  wave  passing  back- 
wards. I  cannot,  therefore,  but  believe,  that  almost 
any  bird  strong  on  the  wing,  and  with  a  good  tail, 
could  windhover  if  it  liked,  or  if  it  were  necessary 
for  the  successful  search  after  daily  food. 

Joseph  Dbew. 

CORNISH  SUCKER. 

AS  far  as  the  experience  of  three  years  will 
allow  me  to  judge,  I  should  say  that  the 
Lepidogaster  cornubiensis  is  decidedly  a  rare  fish, 
although,  as  we  might  suppose  from-  its  name,  it 
may  be  found  more  frequently  in  Cornwall  than 
elsewhere.  Doubtless,  like  most  other  fishes,  it 
moves  about  in  shoals ;  for  when  one  is  found  it 
will  not  be  necessary  to  search  very  far  for  a 
second  specimen.  This  fact  was  particularly  im- 
pressed upon  me  two  summers  ago,  at  Halleine, 
the  beach  of  the  village  of  Trenarven ;  for  on  that 
occasion  it  would  have  been  easy  to  have  filled  a 
large  basket  in  a  very  short  time  with  these  strange 
little  fishes,  as  almost  every  stone  covered  one,  two, 
or  more  of  them.  I  have  often,  since  then,  visited 
the  same  beach  and  turned  over  and  over  the  same 
stones,  but  always  unsuccessfully.  I  caught  and 
compared  about  a  dozen  altogether,  and  found  them 
about  the  same  size— one  perhaps  appeared  plumper 
than  another,  and  the  eyes  of  one  larger  than  the 
eyes  of  another,  and  the  sucking-disks  formed  by 
the  pectoral  and  ventral  fins  were  larger  in  some 
than  others  ;  but  the  length  was  almost  uniformly 
the  same,— about  two  inches  :  so  that,  doubtless, 
they  were  all  of  the  same  age.  My  friend  aud  I 
got  a  great  deal  of  amusement  out  of  our  catch  by 
making  them  adhere  in  all  sorts  of  comical  positions ; 
and  those  of  my  readers  who  have  ever  seen  one  of 
firse  odd-looking  creatures  will  quite  comprehend 
me  possibility  of  our  mirth.  Joseph  Drew. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


207 


ZOOLOGY. 

Good  Little  Robin. — A  little  redbreast  has 
come  to  our  door  all  through  the  winter  for  his 
meals,  and  a  most  friendly  welcome  guest  he  has 
been.  One  spring  morning  we  saw  robin  do  a  deed 
of  charity  that  more  than  ever  endeared  the  little 
bird  to  our  hearts.  It  had  been  a  bitterly  cold 
night ;  and,  on  our  servant  going  down-stairs  to 
fetch  some  coal  to  light  the  fires,  she  found  a  poor 
little  starling  shivering  and  frightened  in  the  cellar. 
She  called  me  to  see  the  bird;  it  had  only  just  left 
the  nest,  and  was  so  weak  that  it  could  not  fly.  I 
tried  to  coax  it  to  eat,  took  it  near  the  fire,  offered 
it  bread-crumbs,  seeds,  water ;  but  no  !  the  starling 
would  not  be  tempted.  Breakfast-time  came,  and 
with  it  the  little  robin.  We  thought  if  we  put  the 
wee  birdie  out  of  doors,  its  mother  might  come  to 
look  for  her  lost  child  ;  then  came  the  fear  of  robin 
—he  was  so  very  pugnacious ;  well,  we  risked  it, 
keeping  a  very  strict  watch  over  the  starling's 
safety.  Robin  eyed  it  a  moment  and  flew  away ; 
still  the  little  baby  bird  stood  on  one  leg  shivering, 
and  no  mother  arrived.  The  moments  seemed 
hours.  Presently  robin  came  flying  back,  and  with 
something  in  his  beak  too.  Hop,  hop,  he  came  to 
where  the  wee  baby  starling  was  shiveriug,  and 
popped  a  worm  in  its  beak,  which  it  opened,  just 
as  if  robin  had  said  "  Open  your  mouth,  here  is 
some  breakfast ; "  and  away  he  flew,  and  again 
returned  with  some  food  to  the  young  bird,  and 
then  they  both  flew  away.  We  never  saw  the 
starling  again,  but  good  little  robin's  deed  made 
him  more  loved  than  ever  in  the  house. — Barbara 
Wallace  Fyfe. 

Hawk  at  Fault. — The  following  incident  that 
befell  a  lady  friend  of  mine  residing  at  Bromley, 
Kent,  may  interest  some  of  your  readers.  Their 
house  stands  on  an  eminence,  facing  a  thick  copse  or 
plantation.  One  afternoon,  as  my  friend  was  taking 
a  nap  on  a  sofa  opposite  the  window  in  a  ground- 
floor  room  (the  window  was  of  clear  plate  glass, 
and  large  and  high,  and  on  the  wall  above  the  sofa 
hung  a  stuffed  partridge  in  a  case),  she  was  aroused 
by  a  terrific  crash  on  the  window,  and  on  hurrying 
into  the  garden  to  seek  the  cause,  found  in  the  path 
beneath,  a  fine  hawk  nearly  stunned  and  much  hurt. 
It  had  evidently  made  a  swoop  from  a  great  dis- 
tance, at  the  partridge  opposite  the  window,  not 
perceiving  the  intervening  glass.  The  sun  was 
shining  full  into  the  room  at  the  time.  The  hawk 
managed  to  flutter  into  the  next  garden,  and  eluded 
further  search  at  the  time,  but  the  next  clay  it  was 
found  dead  under  the  bushes.  It  would  have  been 
stuffed  and  preserved  by  the  side  of  its  intended 
victim,  but  was  in  so  crippled  and  damaged  a  con- 
dition, from  the  effects  of  its  furious  collision,  that  it 


was  deemed  only  tit  for  burial.  What  a  moral  at- 
taches to  the  story,  both  for  birds  and  men ! — E.  C, 
Ramsgate. 

Glow-worm  Light  (p.  69,  1870).— That  it  has 
some  end  useful  in  the  insect's  economy  may  not  be 
doubted ;  but  what  that  end  is,  we  are  entirely  ig- 
norant. It  has  been  concluded  and  taken  for 
granted,  that  its  purpose  is  to  direct  the  winged 
male  to  the  wingless  female.  But  it  is  surely  for- 
gotten that  other  insects  have  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing the  males  which  are  stationary,  but  that,  on  the 
contrary,  they  possess  a  peculiar  power  of  discover- 
ing them,  even  when  totally  concealed  from  sight, 
as  when  enclosed  in  boxes,  and  even  coming  down 
chimneys  and  beating  against  windows,  to  obtain 
access  to  them  ;  on  which  power  the  plan  of  taking 
males  called  "  Sembling"  is  founded.  And,  whether 
or  not,  the  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  would 
not  answer  in  the  instances  where  both  sexes  are 
winged. — P.  A.  Gosse,  "The  Canadian  Naturalist'' 

Eggs. — Rambling  along  the  shore  of  a  small  bay 
the  other  day,  I  came  upon  the  nest  of  the  Ringed 
Plover  (Charadrhis  Eiaticula)  with  four  eggs.  The 
nest,  if  so  it  may  be  called,  consisted  of  a  large 
mound  of  sand,  about  eight  inches  in  height,  held  to- 
gether with  some  ropy  fucus,  and  the  slight  depression 
on  the  top,  in  which  the  eggs  were  laid,  was  carefully 
and  neatly  paved  with  small  fragments  of  cockle- 
shells :  the  nest  was  near  high-water  mark.  A  little 
farther  back  from  the  sea  I  found,  amongst  some 
thistles  (Cnicus  palustris),  three  eggs  of  the  Oyster- 
catcher  {Tlcematopus  osiralegus)  laid  in  a  slight 
depression  on  the  bare  sand.  Not  far  from  this  I 
came  to  what  I  suppose  is  merely  the  egg  of  a 
Peewit  (Vanelhis  cristatus) ;  but  the  peculiarity 
was  that  there  was  only  one  egg  laid  on  a  neat  little 
circle  of  bents  and  rushes,  which  was  only  large 
enough  to  support  this  solitary  egg.  It  was  de- 
serted, though  the  embryo  was  almost  mature.  In 
swampy  ground;  at  the  head  of  this  little  bay,  I  have 
found  the  nest  and  eggs  of  the  Snipe  {Scolopax 
Gallinago)  placed  on  a  tussock  amongst  the  marshy 
herbage.  There  were  four  eggs,  placed  with  their 
small  ends  inwards.  I  once,  some  years  ago,  met 
with  the  nest  of  the  common  Thrush  {Tardus 
musicus)  in  a  curious  position,  namely,  at  the  foot 
of  a  small  fir-tree,  and  quite  on  the  ground :  the 
nest  was  built  in  the  usual  way,  and  contained  five 
eggs.  This  was  in  a  wood,  where  there  was  every 
facility  for  building  the  nest  in  a  tree.  I  have  also 
discovered  the  nest  of  the  Yellow  -  hammer 
{Emberiza  citrinella)  very  high  up  in  a  lofty  hedge : 
this  is  unusual.  A  pair  of  the  Great  Titmouse 
(Parus  major)  have  built  iu  an  old  unused  pump 
here  [Almorness,  N.B.]  for  the  last  ten  years,  and 
maybe  for  longer,  always  bringing  up  two  broods 
each  season,  eight  in  number.— W.  Douglas  Robinson. 


20S 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Tortoise  Eggs.— Two  months  ago  I  procured 
a  pair  of  the  common  Land  Tortoise,  male  and 
female,  as  I  was  assured.  The  female  was  the 
largest,  and  by  far  the  more  active  of  the  two.  I 
placed  them  in  the  flower-garden  on  a  lawn,  and  on 
Monday  last  I  perceived  the  female  excavating  a 
small  hole  under  a  hedge,  using  her  two  hind  legs 
as  spades.  When  she  had  dug  a  hole  about  five 
inches  deep,  and  about  six  inches  in  diameter,  she 
laid  two  hard-shelled  white  eggs,  the  size  of 
pigeons'  eggs.  Then  she  proceeded,  using  only 
her  hind  legs,  to  shovel  in  the  earth  she  had 
thrown  out,  and  when  the  hole  was  full,  to  spread 
some  grass  over  the  place,  so  as  to  conceal  it  en- 
tirely. She  laid  no  more  eggs  as  far  as  I  am  aware. 
Since  the  eggs  were  laid  under  a  hedge,  where  they 
could  certainly  obtain  no  warmth,  I  removed  them 
to  a  cucumber-frame,  and  placed  them  in  some  fine 
sand,  about  two  inches  from  the  surface.  I  hope  I 
was  right  in  doing  so.  Thinking  that  this,  to  my 
mind,  uncommon  circumstance  may  cause  some 
interest  to  your  readers,  I  forward  to  you  the  full 
account  of  what  happened. — B.  T.  Guillemard. 

TnE  Entomological  Season  op  1871. — One 
occasionally  sees  in  advertisements  issued  by 
insurance  companies,  that,  amongst  other  induce- 
ments held  forth  to  intending  members  is  this,  that 
they  may  join  in  a  bonus  year.  There  is  need 
enough,  certainly,  that  our  entomological  ranks 
should  be  recruited,  for,  from  several  causes,  the 
sum  total  at  the  present  time  is  not  what  it  should 
be  ;  and  especially  do  we  need  to  add  to  the  number 
of  those  who  are  observers  as  well  as  collectors. 
But  it  would  be  rather  delusive  to  announce  that 
this  is  a  "  bonus  year,"  when  beginners  would  be 
likely  to  fill  a  good  number  of  store  boxes  by  way 
of  a  start.  It  is  not,  certainly,  at  all  a  good 
season ;  insects  of  all  orders  that  are  at  all  choice 
being  difficult  to  obtain.  The  Lepidoptera,  as 
usual,  have  suffered  most,  in  consequence  of  the 
cold  winds  and  the  ungenial  spring  and  the  heavy 
rains  of  summer.  That  butterflies  and  moths  are 
not  scarcer  even  than  they  are,  may  be  attributed  to 
the  favourable  influences  of  the  winter.  Such  a 
winter  as  we  had  in  1870-71  is  more  conducive  to 
the  well-being  of  hybernatiug  larvae  and  imagos, 
and  to  that  of  the  dormant  pupae,  than  one  which 
is  wet  and  mild.  If  we  had  had  a  fair  average 
summer,  many  rare  species  would  have  swarmed. 
As  it  is,  we  have  to  observe  as  we  stroll  along 
rather  discontentedly,  net  in  hand,  that  "  Things 
are  bad,  but  they  might  be  worse  ;  "  in  fact,  they 
are  much  better  than  in  1S60,  which  stands  out  in 
the  memory  of  many  an  entomologist  as  so  notably 
unfavourable  that  we  have  since  had  none  to  equal 
it.  One  unpleasant  drawback  attendant  upon  the 
pursuit  of  insects  this  year  has  been  the  time 
required  for  the  capture  of  certain  species,  which 


though  "out "  as  the  phrase  goes,  are  certainly  not 
"about,"  but  must  be  driven  from  their  hiding- 
places  by  diligent  beating  and  shaking.  Though  a 
few  species  of  our  butterflies  have  appeared  in 
their  usual  proportions,  the  majority  are  particu- 
larly scarce  ;  and  even  the  "  Whites,"  those  foes  to 
the  gardener,  have  not  escaped  scathless,  through 
wind  and  weather.  Yet  with  a  less  number  than 
usual  of  those  insects  sought  by  collectors,  we  find, 
very  generally,  hosts  of  those  which  nobody  wants 
or  wishes  to  see,  such  as  the  destructive  Aphides 
and  Cocci,  which  evidently  regard  the  science  of 
meteorology  with  contempt.—/.  R.  S.  C. 

Rather  Alarming  !— Under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  nay, 
millions,  of  eggs  of  tapeworms  are  daily  discharged 
into  our  sewers.  I  suspect  that  at  least  4,000  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  metropolis  have  the  honour, 
if  you  may  so  call  it,  of  playing  the  part  of  host  to 
these  singular  creatures,  and  every  day  one  or  two 
of  the  individual  segments  of  each  living  tapeworm 
will  pass  to  the  outer  world,  causing  4-0,000  eggs  to 
escape  along  with  each  of  them.  These  go  down 
the  sewers,  and  if  that  sewage  be  collected  and 
utilized  over  our  fields,  it  follows  that  these  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  eggs  will  be  also  distributed. 
And  what  happens  ?  The  eggs,  furnished  with  a 
covering  which  it  has  been  stated  will  resist  any 
amount  of  atmospheric  changes,  are  swallowed  by 
the  cattle  feeding  on  the  grass. — T.  Spencer  Cobbold, 
M.D.,  F.R.S. 

Albino  Blackbirds. — A  man  who  lives  near  us 
(Hitchiu)  has  this  year  found  two  blackbirds'  nests, 
each  with  two  white  birds  and  two  black  ones. 
He  thinks  that  both  nests  belonged  to  the  same 
pair  of  birds,  as  about  nine  weeks  elapsed  from  the 
time  he  took  the  first  to  the  time  he  took  the  second 
nest.  He  has,  however,  parted  with  all  but  one, 
which  is  a  very  fine  bird,  full  grown,  and  perfectly 
white. — W.  Nash,  Dunstable. 

Orange-tip  {A.  cardamines). — Small  males  of 
this  butterfly  are  by  no  means  uncommon ;  I  have  a 
specimen  measuring  If  inch  from  tip  to  tip,  and 
have  seen  others  even  smaller  in  various  collections. 
I  find  the  males  of  this  species  outnumber  the 
females  in  the  proportion  of  ten  to  one ;  and  until 
the  present  season  I  have  not  taken  a  female  since 
1SG6.  Many  are,  no  doubt,  passed  for  common,  or 
Green-veined  Whites  (Pieris  napi  and  rapte) ;  but 
few  collectors  of  any  experience  can  mistake  the 
marbled  markings  on  the  underside,  which  are 
visible,  during  flight,  at  a  considerable  distance.  I 
should  like  to  hear  the  opinions  of  other  entomolo- 
gists on  this  subject.  The  Green-veined  White 
{Pieris  napi)  is  also  subject  to  great  variation  in 
size.  I  have  captured  specimens,  of  both  sexes, 
measuring  barely  11  inch,  and  others  rather  over 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


209 


2  inches  ill  expansion,  in  the  same  locality,  and  on 
the  same  day.  My  earliest  date  for  the  appearance 
of  the  Orange-tip  was  April  15th.  A  friend  noticed 
it  on  the  previous  day,  but  did  not  succeed  in  cap- 
turing it.  In  1869  I  saw  it  first  on  April  23rd, 
and  in  1870  on  May  6th.— John  Henderson,  Jim., 
Reading,  Berks. 

Processionary  Moths  (p.  185).— There  must 
be  some  misapprehension  regarding  the  species 
which  occurs  at  Swanage,  for  the  true  Proces- 
sionary  Moths  are  not  natives  of  this  country.  The 
young  caterpillars  of  several  of  our  native  species 
move  towards  their  food  in  regular  order,  as  for 
instance  those  of  the  Buff-tip  {Pygcera  Bucephala), 
and  the  Gothic  (Nmna  typica),  yet  they  are  not 
true  processionaries.  These  are  not  species  con- 
structing a  common  nest ;  but  those  which  do,  such 
as  the  Lackey  {Bombyx  neustria),  sometimes  also 
crawl  forth  in  a  sort  of  procession,  yet  generally 
disperse  when  they  reach  the  twigs  on  which  they 
are  about  to  feed.  I  imagine  that  the  species 
whose  habits  are  noted  by  your  correspondent  is 
the  Gold-tail  {Liparis  cturiflua),  tolerably  well 
known  for  its  urticating  properties,  but  certainly 
less  troublesome  than  the  continental  species 
referred  to.  Many  a  debate  has  been  held  on  the 
question  as  to  the  cause  of  the  irritation  they  pro- 
duce, some  attributing  it  to  the  hairs,  others  to 
small  flakes  of  a  cottony  matter  ejected  by  the 
caterpillars,  and  others  again  to  the  emission  of  a 
peculiar  fluid. — /.  B.  S.  C. 

Seeking  Protection.— A  few  days  ago  one  of 
our  family  hearing  the  bright  chirp  of  a  greenfinch 
at  a  window  which  was  closed,  went  towards  it, 
and  saw  the  little  bird  tapping,  as  if  for  admittance, 
at  the  glass :  the  window  was  opened,  whereupon 
the  bird  flew  into  the  room;  however  it  seemed, 
having  gained  its  object,  not  desirous  of  further 
investigations  about  the  home-life  of  the  genus 
Homo,  and  accordingly,  taking  advantage  of  an 
upen  door  and  adjoining  open  window,  it  flew  again 
into  outer  air.  We  fancy  it  must  have  been 
frightened  by  the  pursuit  of  some  bird  of  prey,  and, 
inter  spem  curamque,  in  its  terror  tried  to  find  a 
grain  of  compassion  amongst  men.  —  W.  Douglas 
liobinson,  Kirkennan,  Dalbeattie,  N.B. 

CiiiEROCAttPA  Celerio.  — |A  specimen  of  the 
Silver-striped  Hawk-moth  {Chcerocampa  Celerio)  was 
caught  at  Southport  last  Monday,  July  17th,  and 
was  sent  to  me.  It  is  perfect,  with  the  exception 
of  the  tip  of  one  of  the  front  wings,  which  is 
broken—  E.  Bell. 

European  Birds  in  New  Zealand.— Through 
the  praiseworthy  efforts  of  our  local  Agricultural 
Society,  a  few  skylarks  and  sparrows  have  been 
introduced  to  the  province  of  Taranaki.    Vigorous 


European  birds  have  become  a  desideratum  he  e, 
through  the  rapid  decrease  of  the  feeble  native 
birds  by  the  depredations  of  the  domestic  cat, 
Norway  rat,  and  kingfisher  {Halcyon  vagans).  The 
Bell-bird>f  Captain  Cook  {Anthornis  melanura),  and 
the  native  robins  {Petroica),  once  numerous,  are 
now  nearly  extinct :  you  may  travel  for  miles  in 
the  forest  without  seeing  or  hearing  them.  The 
Kingfisher,  however,  is  increasing  both  in  numbers 
and  rapacity.  Once  he  appeared  to  be  quite  harm- 
less, contenting  himself  with  the  small  fry  in  the 
forest  streams,  wood-boring  larvae,  and  the  spider- 
crabs  of  the  beach ;  now  he  devours  young  chickens, 
small  birds,  and  mice.— B.  Wells,  Taranaki,  N.Z. 

Swallows. — In  a  cafe  or  coffee-shop  in  a  village 
where  swallows  {Hirundo  rustica)  breed  every  year, 
at  present  there  are  two  nests,  each  with  young. 
The  old    birds   feed   the    young    up    till  sunset. 
One  bird  stays    by  the   nest   while  the  other  is 
away  seeking  food.    As  soon  as  the  seeker  enters 
the  cafe,  by  open  doors  or  windows,  on  its  return, 
the  bird  in  waiting  immediately  flies  off  in  its  turn 
for  food.    Such  is  their  regular  mode,  as  I  watched 
them  long.   After  sunset  the  old  birds  cease  seeking 
food.    One  of  the  birds  sits  on  the  young  at  night, 
and  the  other  retires  to  a  perch  close  by  for  the 
night,   close    to    well-lighted    lamps,   smoking  of 
cigars,  the  din  and  noise  of  numbers  of  people. 
Such  is  custom  and  confidence.    These  birds  are 
very  partial  to  building  in  cafes  in  this  part.    They 
return  with    food    to    their  young  yery  quickly— 
insects  are  abundant  here—  T.  B.,  Ortakeny,  Turkey, 
July  25. 

British  Butterflies  in  India.— I   have  ob- 
served the  following  British  butterflies  occurring 
in  great  abundance  upon  the  plains  and  hills  of  the 
Punjab.    I  have  compared  the  Indian  with  some 
English  specimens,  and,  except  in  two  instances, 
have  found  the  markings  and  colourings  exactly 
similar.    The  Swallow-tail  (Papilio  Machaon),  the 
Brimstone  {Gonepterix  rhamni),  the  Clouded  Yel- 
low {Colias  hyale),  the  Black-veined  {Aporia  cra- 
teegi),  the  Large  Garden  White  {Pier is  brassier), 
the     Small     Garden    White    {Pieris    rapa),    the 
Painted  Lady  {Cynthia  cardui),   the   Large,  Tor- 
toiseshell   {Vanessa    polychloros) ,  the   Small  Tor- 
toiseshell  {Vanessa  urticce),  the  Queen  of  Spain 
Pritillary  {Argynnis  Lathonia),  the   Small  Copper 
{Chrysophanus  Phlceas),  the  Azure  Blue  {Polyom- 
matus  argiolus),    the    Little    Blue    {Polyommatus 
alsus),  also  the  Apollo  {Pamassius  Apollo)  and  the 
Long-tailed  Blue    {Polyommatus  bceticus).     Many 
species  of  very  handsome  butterflies,  moths,  and 
beetles  are  found  here  ;  but  as  we  have  had  much 
rainy  and  cold  weather  since  the  middle  of  April,  it 
has  been  a  very  bad  season  for  the  entomologist.— 
Edward  D.  Burton,  Simla,  India. 


210 


HARDWICKE'S      SCIEN  CE -GO  S  SIP. 


BOTANY. 

Eloral  Stars. — We  have  several  most  beautiful 
wild  flowers  which  may  justly  claim  the  name  of 
stars,  others  too  besides  the  Stellarias.  The  earliest 
is  the  Lesser  Celandine  {Ranunculus  ficaria), 
which  is  certainly  very  handsome  and  star-like 
when  the  sun  is  shining  upon  its  golden  petals, 
generally  seven  or  nine  in  number.  The  leaves  are 
heart-shaped,  dark  green,  and  spotted ;  when  the 
petals  are  closed,  it  is  a  very  insignificant-looking 
flower,  as  the  under  side  of  the  petals  is  of  a  dull 
greenish-yellow.  This  may  be  called  the  star  of  the 
meadow,  although  it  grows  frequently  upon  the 
road-side.  The  next  is  a  silver  star,  the  Wood 
Anemone  {Anemone  nemorosa),  which  makes  the 
woods  look  brilliant  in  the  sunshine,  with  its 
beautiful  star  flowers.  It  is  a  beautiful  flower,  too, 
when  there  is  no  sunshine  to  lend  its  fascinating 
charms  to  the  wood  and  its  bright  occupants';  at 
night,  when  the  pink-tipped  petals  close  over  its 
delicate  pale  stamens,  and  bend  towards  the  deeply- 
cut  dark  green  leaves,  which  grow  halfway  up  the 
stem  (they  are  covered  with  a  number  of  delicate 
silver  hairs  and  bordered  with  purple),  then  the 
Wood  Anemone  might  claim  a  place  among  our 
bell-flowers ;  when  the  cool  night  breezes  blow  its 
pretty  drooping  flower,  it  may  be  one  of  those  which 
one  of  our  poets  says, — 

"  Ring  a  merry  chime  that  tells 
Spring  is  coming!  " 

The  Stellarias  have  their  star-tike  honours  always 
appended  to  them,  from  their  Latin  name  Stella,  a 
star.  The  Great  Stitchwort  {Stellaria  Holostea)  is  a 
beautiful  fragile  flower,  which  finds  another  place  in 
which  its  stars  may  shine— the  hedges.  It  is  a  very 
delicate  plant ;  the  stem  is  square,  the  leaves  of  a 
beautiful  pale  green,  long,  narrow,  and  slightly 
hairy  :  the  plant  grows  from  one  to  two  feet  high. 
When  the  flowers  have  gone  out  of  blossom,  the 
seeds  serve  instead  of  bonbons  for  the  children  to 
amuse  themselves  with ;  so  that  this  is  a  well-known 
and  much-loved  plant  with  them.  I  have  found  it 
in  blossom  in  the  beginning  of  February,  a  little 
green  branch  with  the  blossom  upon  it  growing  out  of 
an  old  brown  stem,  which  looked  perfectly  dead ;  but 
seemed  to  become  possessed  of  a  new  life  when  the 
first  warm  day  of  spring  appeared,  and  sending  forth 
the  first  star  when  all  around  looked  cold  and 
cheerless,  and  not  one  of  its  bright  companions  to 
be  seen.  The  Chickweed  {Stellaria  media),  the  com- 
monest of  the  Stellarias,  is  a  very  little  star,  often 
covering  waste  places  with  its  mantle  of  green, 
studded  with  countless  stars,  bright  although  so 
small.  The  leaves  are  egg-shaped  and  hairy,  the 
branches  lying  upon  the  ground.  The  other 
Stellarias  blossom  later  in  the  year,  when  Summer 
has  come,  bringing  with  her  countless  flowers  to 


cover  the  meadows  and  hedges  with  brightness. — 
A.E. 

Eurness  Abbey. — Some  of  thereaders  of  Science 
Gossip  may,  during  this  autumn,  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Lake  district,  and  if  so,  those  who  are  interested  in 
our  wild  plants  will  probably  be  induced  to  go  a 
little  out  of  their  way  to  the  picturesque  ruins  of 
Eurness  Abbey,  where,  upon  the  authority  of  the 
guide-books,  they  will  expect  to  find  the  deadly 
Nightshade  {Atropa  Belladonna)  growing  in  some 
abundance.  To  such  I  would  give  a  word  of  advice 
and  warning.  I  say  to  them,  by  all  means  go  to 
Eurness  Abbey,  which  is  a  splendid  old  ruin,  but  do 
not  expect  to  find  the  deadly  Nightshade  growing 
wild.  A  single  plant  will  be  shown  by  the  local 
guide  (if  the  visitor  does  not  previously  discover  it 
himself),  carefully  boarded  round,  and  otherwise 
preserved  from  the  assaults  of  the  mischievous. 
But  this  plant,  the  guide  assured  me,  he  planted 
himself,  and  there  are  now  no  remnants  of  the  Atropa 
growing  wild  on  or  about  the  ruin.  The  botanical 
visitor  will,  however,  be  pleased  to  observe  the  fol- 
lowing plants;  viz.,  Parietaria  officinalis  (very  luxu- 
riant), Lactuca  virosa  and  muralis,  Sedum  Telephium, 
&c.  The  old  walls  are  also  beautifully  decorated 
with  Campanula  rotundifolia,  and  a  number  of  other 
more  common  plants.  I  made  a  list  of  upwards  of 
seventy  during  my  morning's  stroll  about  the  ruin. 
—  Wm.  A.  Clarke. 

Plantain. — While  walking  through  our  new 
park,  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Schuylkill  river,  a 
day  or  two  ago,  I  chanced  to  alight  on  what  I 
imagine  to  be  a  very  singular  specimen  of  Plantain 
{Plantago  cordata).  The  footstalk  was  about  8  inches 
in  length,  and  from  where  the  seed  commenced  to 
the  point  [or  extremity  12  inches  more ;  it  then 
brauched  off  into  three  distinct  spikes  of  about  half 
an  inch  in  length,  each  of  these  spikes  again  branch- 
ing out  into  other  spikes — one  throwing  out  4, 
and  the  other  two  3  spikes  each.  Are  such  speci- 
mens occasionally  met  with  ?  I  should  be  glad  to 
know. — George  Worley,  Philadelphia,  U.S. 

May  in  August.— Whilst  I  was  walking  on  the 
banks  of  the  canal  close  to  this  town,  I  picked  some 
hawthorn  in  full  flower.  This  was  on  Aug.  2nd. 
Never  having  heard  of  or  seen  it  floweriug  so  late, 
I  thought  it  would  be  of  interest  to  your  readers  to 
notice  the  fact. — James  Bate,  Tiverton. 

White  Varieties  (p.  191). — I  was  interested 
in  reading  the  notice  of  White  Varieties  of  Elowers 
found  by  your  correspondent  "E.  I.  W."  near 
Winchester,  as  I  have  gathered  in  Cornwall,  this 
summer,  besides  a  white  variety  of  Thymus  chama- 
drys  (which  occurs  in  several  places),  Jasione  mon- 
tana,  and  Stachys  betonica,  perfectly  white,  growing 
near  the  "  Indian  Queen,"  on  the  Truro  and  Bodmin 
road.— S.  M.  P. 


RABDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


211 


MICROSCOPY. 

The  Origin  of  Life.— Dr.  Crace  Calvert  read 
a  paper  "  Ou  the  Action  of  Heat  on  Germ  Life." 
The  paper  described  a  series  of  experiments  made 
by  the  author  for  the  purpose  of  determining  the 
effect  of  heat  on  living  organisms.  lie  took  a 
solution  of  white  of  egg  full  of  microscopic  life, 
and  a  solution  of  gelatine  full  of  microscopic  life,  as 
also  solutions  of  sugar  and  hay.  These  solutions 
were  put  into  little  tubes,  and  submitted  to  tem- 
peratures of  100',  200°,  300',  400',  and  500'  Eahr. 
It  was  found  that  at  100'  the  living  organisms  were 
not  at  all  affected ;  at  200'  they  were  not  affected ;  at 
300'  they  were  still  alive— three  or  four  vibrios  in 
each  field;  and  it  was  only  at  400'  that  life  dis- 
appeared. The  same  solutions  were  then  put  on 
little  slips  of  glass,  dried,  some  in  the  air  and  some 
at  a  temperature  of  212',  and  introduced  into  tubes. 
As  before,  it  was  only  at  400'  that  life  disappeared. 
By  another  experiment  it  appeared  that  in  a  fluid 
where  life  had  been  destroyed  by  heating  to  400', 
no  life  was  subsequently  developed,  whereas  in  one 
which  had  been  heated  to  some  of  the  lower  tem- 
peratures, such  development  took  place.  If,  said 
Dr.  Calvert,  there  was  such  a  thing  as  spontaneous 
generation,  he  could  not  understand  why  there 
should  not  have  been  life  reproduced  in  his  tubes 
which  had  been  heated  to  400';  whilst  a  little  life 
was  reproduced  in  one  heated  to  300',  and  more  in 
one  heated  to  200'.  It  appeared  to  him  that 
medical  men  would  do  well  to  consider  the  tempe- 
rature at  which  life  was  destroyed.  Admitting  that 
contagious  disease  was  due  to  the  introduction  into 
the  system  of  a  germ  of  some  kind,  either  vegetable 
or  animal,  so  far  as  his  experiments  went,  a  tempe- 
rature of  400'  was  necessary  to  destroy  such  germs 
on  clothing  to  which  they  might  have  become 
attached. 

Another,  paper  by  Dr.  Calvert,  "On  Proto- 
plastic Life,"  was  next  read.  If,  said  the  Doctor, 
the  white  of  a  fresh  egg  was  taken  and  mixed  with 
water,  and  examined  under  the  microscope,  not  the 
slightest  life  was  to  be  seen,  but  at  the  end  of 
twenty  minutes  or  half  an  hour,  plenty  of  life  might 
be  discovered.  In  such  experiments  a  fluid  must 
be  employed,  and  whatever  fluid  was  employed,  if 
examined  under  the  microscope,  it  showed  life. 
Common  distilled  water,  if  kept  for  two  or  three 
days,  showed  life ;  but  after  many  failures,  he  dis- 
covered an  apparatus  by  means  of  which  he  had 
been  enabled  to  get  distilled  water  which  would 
keep  free  from  life  for  three  months.  Having  thus 
got  a  pure  medium  without  life,  the  question  was 
whether  he  could  generate  life  in  it.  He  intro- 
duced distilled  water  into  twelve  tubes,  and  left 
them  exposed  to  the  air  for  twenty  four  hours.    It 


was  in  winter;  in  the  summer  he  should  have  left 
them  for  ten  minutes.  Another  series  of  tubes 
were  placed  near  putrid  meat,  and  then  closed. 
Life  appeared  in  twenty-four  days  in  the  tubes 
containing  distilled  water,  which  had  been  exposed 
to  the  air,  but  a  portion  of  the  same  water  which  had 
not  been  exposed  to  the  air  showed  no  life.  The 
tubes  which  had  been  placed  near  putrid  meat 
showed  life  in  eight  days.  The  distilled  water  was 
thus  impregnated  with  more  life  by  being  placed 
near  a  source  of  putridity.  Up  to  this  point  he 
had  been  using  hydrogen  to  wash  his  apparatus. 
He  replaced  the  hydrogen  by  oxygen,  and  found 
that  by  using  water  saturated  with  oxygen  he  pro- 
duced life  in  three  or  four  days  instead  of  eight 
days.  Then  taking  water  into  which  a  little 
albumen  had  been  allowed  to  run  without  being 
exposed  to  the  air,  he  found  life  developed  in 
two  days.  The  general  result  of  the  experiments 
was  that  life  was  produced  if  the  fluid  under 
examination  was  left  exposed  to  the  air  for  a 
very  short  period.  If  perfectly  sweet  eggs  were 
covered  with  varnish  they  would  keep  for  eighteen 
months,  while  if  not  so  covered  they  would  not 
keep  as  many  weeks.  But  if  there  was  such  a 
thing  as  spontaneous  generation,  why  should  not 
the  egg  covered  with  varnish  decompose  as  soon  as 
the  other  ? 

The  new  Elephant  Parasite  (Idolocoris  ele- 
phant is,  Walker). — In  reply  to  a  notice  in  the  last 
Science- Gossip,  by  Mr.  T.  G.  Denny,  I  beg  to 
state  that  the  then  unique  specimen  of  this  insect 
was  placed  in  my  hands,  two  years  ago,  by  Mr.  T. 
Curties,  E.B.M.S.,  and  I  at  once  declared  to  that 
gentleman  my  belief  that  it  was  "  an  entirely  new 
form  of  parasite."  This  fact  disposes  of  the  asser- 
tion of  priority  of  discovery  or  possession.  That  the 
species  was  not  published  without  due  care  and  dis- 
crimination is  proved  by  its  not  appearing  until  last 
June.  In  .corroboration  of  my  opinion  as  to  the 
novelty  of  this  parasite,  I  have  not  only  the  autho- 
rity of  Mr.  P.  Walker,  P.L.S.,  but  now  also  that  of 
the  late  Mr.  Denny,  who,  as  is  stated  by  Mr.  T.  G. 
Denny,  having  received  some  examples  of  it,  long 
after  it  had  been  well  known  to  me,  considered  it  to 
be  an  "  entirely  new  one."  Having  thus  far  an- 
swered Mr.  T.  G.  Denny's  rather  ambiguous  asser- 
tion that  the  species  is  "  not  altogether  new,"  I 
trust  he  will  permit  me  to  remind  him  that  any  dis- 
pute as  to  the  date  of  acquisition,  or  presumed  in- 
tention of  publication,  is  altogether  beside  the  ques- 
tion—priority of  sufficient  publication,  and  that 
alone,  constituting  the  authority  of  a  species.  I 
submit,  therefore,  that  in  accordance  with  common 
sense  and  scientific  usage,  the  name  given  by  Mr. 
P.  Walker  to  this  new  form  of  parasite  in  the 
Science-Gossip  of  June  1571  must  stand. — H.  C. 
Bichter,  Kensington. 


212 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Local  Floras. — I  am  acquainted  with  the  fol- 
lowing local  floras  :—  Hall's  "Flora  of  Liverpool," 
183S  :  Melville's  "  Flora  of  Harrow,"  1864  ;  Trim- 
mer's "Flora  of  Norfolk,"  1S66;  Deakin's  "  Flower- 
ing Plants  of  Timbridge  Wells  and  Neighbourhood." 
In  Curtis's  "  Topographical  History  of  Leicester- 
shire "  there  is  a  list  of  the  plants  of  the  county. — 
A.  H.  A. 

Local  Name  for  Ladybird. — In  the  south  of 
Lancashire  I  have  heard  the  Ladybird  (Coccinella) 
called  a  "  god's  horse."  This  is  very  like  the  French 
popular  name,  "Bete-k-Dieu." — A.  H.  A. 

Wakon  Bird. — About  this  time  last  year  a 
correspondent  asked  what  was  the  Wakon  Bird  of 
the  North  American  Indians?  It  is  a  bird  which 
they  hold  sacred,  and  call  the  "Bird  of  the  Great 
Spirit."  Some  suppose  that  it  is  the  same  as  the 
Bird  of  Paradise.  (See  Morse,  "  American  Geo- 
graphy.")—^. H.  A. 

Anecdotes  twice  told.— Helen  E.  Watney 
("  H.  E.  W.")  begs  to  say,  in  reference  to  a 
communication  of  "  J.  J.,"  that  both  the  anec- 
dotes mentioned  by  him  as  having  appeared 
in  Country  Life,  were  written  by  her  to  that 
journal — she  has  not  been  guilty  of  cribbing.  She 
deemed  herself  at  liberty  to  mention,  when  writing 
on  a  like  subject  in  Science-Gossip,  the  same  anec- 
dotes again.  She  wrote  in  Country  Life  as  "  Wah- 
Wah-Tay-See,"  and  as  "Firefly";  but  Science- 
Gossip  forbids  a  nam  deplume.  As  to  his  remark 
about  the  "Nursemaid,"  she  was  upper  nurse  in 
"H.  E.  W.V  employ,  and  doubtless  considered 
herself  quite  "  a  young  lady,"  and  always  spoke  of 
her  father,  a  London  tradesman  (tailor),  as  her 
"  papa  •"  therefore  "  H.  E.  W.,"  in  the  anecdote 
referred  to,  wishing  to  be  brief,  wrote  "young 
lady."     "  J.  J."  is,  indeed,  a  modern  "  Zoilus." 

Fossil  Oolitic  Plants  (Science-Gossip  for 
July,  p.  157,  figs.  7G  and  77). — There  appears  to  me 
a  very  striking  resemblance  between  the  above 
figures  and  a  transverse  section  of  the  stone  of  the 
common  date  {Phcenix  daclylifera) .  Perhaps  Mr. 
J.  S.  Tute  would  compare  the  two,  and  let  us  know, 
through  Science-Gossip,  whether  they  are  iden- 
tical or  not. — J.  Bowman,  Lamplugh. 

Destruction  or  Earthworms  and  Black- 
beetles. — I  can  indorse  all  Mr.  Henry  Deacon 
writes  as  to  the  use  of  lime-water  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  earthworms ;  but  I  would  like  to  add  a 
caution  to  his  note.  See  to  the  strength  of  the 
preparation,  should  you  ever  need  to  apply  it  to  a 
plant-bed,  for  I  lost  some  very  valuable  flowers  once 
by  giving  too  strong  a  solution.  Two  handfulsof 
quicklime  in  a  pail  of  water,  and  allowed  to  remain 
until  it  clears,  is  the  right  proportion— the  test  your 
own  or  your  gardener's  tongue.  When  the  water 
is  clear,  pour  it  oil',  and  if,  on  applying  it  to  the  tip 
of  your  tongue,  it  tastes  strong,  dilute  it.  The  tem- 
perature also  must  be  noticed,  for  if  under  80°  it 
will  injure  the  roots  of  your  plants,  should  they  be 
hothouse  ones.  I  (ind  lime  of  the  very  greatest 
service  in  my  garden,  and  have  beguu  applying  it 
already ;  for  on  entering  on  my  present  residence, 
I  found  the  kitchen-garden  infested  with  grubs ; 
the  gooseberry  caterpillar  has  been  an  especial  pest 
this  season.  By  the  way,  a  frieud  of  mine  has  sent 
me  what  he  says  is  an  unfailing  receipt  for  the 
destruction  of  this  foe,  but  it  cannot  be  applied  until 


spring,  when  the  first  set  of  leaves  are  out.  Salt  is 
the  best  thing  I  ever  tried  to  dislodge  worms  from 
walks ;  but  of  course  it  is  out  of  the  question  on 
grass  lawns.  I  fancy  worms  are  beneficial  helps  on 
pasture  land,  and  would  not  drive  them  from  my 
field  on  any  account ;  but  _  on  garden  or  croquet 
lawns  they  are  most  objectionable.  A  pet  hedge- 
hog will  soon  clear  the  house  of  black-beetles.  It 
is  a  quiet  little  beast,  eats  bread-and-milk  like  a 
cat,  and  only  wanders  about  at  night ;  is  particularly 
fond  of  beetles,  and  will  very  quickly  destroy  a 
colony  of  them. — Helen  K  Watney,  Bryn  Hyfryd, 
North  Wales. 

Anthea  cereus.  —  In  August,  1S69,  whilst 
shrimping  in  the  spring  tide,  I  noticed  a  large  and 
beautiful  Actinia  (the  Anthea  cereus)  fastened  to  a 
long  and  wide  frond  of  sweet  tangle.  It  was 
further  out  than  low-water  mark,  and  situated 
between  some  large  rocks,  from  one  of  which  the 
laminaria  was  growing.  _  There  was  just  wash 
enough  to  keep  the  tangle  in  constant  motion.  The 
tentacles  of  the  Anthea  were  every  moment  busy 
fishing  in  all  directions,  and  as  the  creature  was 
near  the  surface  and  the  sun  shining  directly  upon 
it,  the  beautiful  colours  given  out  in  the  glancing 
waters  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  describe. 
But  my  chief  object  in  mentioning  the  circum- 
stance is,  to  show  that  the  power  of  locomotion  in 
these  flower-like  animals  must  be  pretty  well 
developed,  and  doubtless  is  enjoyed  by  them  to  a 
much  greater  extent  than  is  commonly  supposed, 
from  the  passive  condition  in  which  they  are 
usually  discovered. — Joseph  Drew. 

Hawfinch  (Coccothraustes  vulgaris). — In  Jan., 
1S66,  I  watched  one  of  these  birds  for  a  considerable 
time.  It  was  perched  on  a  holly  that  grew  close  to 
the  window  of  the  room  in  which  I  was  sitting,  and 
feeding  on  the  berries  ;  this  was  near  Midhurst,  in 
Sussex.  I  have  never  seen  the  bird  in  Buckingham- 
shire ;  but  last  autumn,  when  walking  in  a  neglected 
orchard,  near  Denham,  in  that  county,  I  found  the 
ground  thickly  strewn  with  cherrystones,  which 
were  all  halved,  exactly  in  the  manner  described  in 
John's  "  British  Birds  in  their  Haunts,"  as  though 
cut  by  a  sharp  instrument ;  from  which  I  infer  that 
this  bird  frequents  that  neighbourhood.—  M.  D. 

Hawfinch  (p.lSl). — A  friend  of  mine,  living  near 
Ockham,  iu  Surrey,  has  a  live  hawfinch,  which  was 
taken  from  the  nest  in  a  neighbouring  wood  last 
June—  W.  B.  Tate. 

The  Hawtinch.— In  answer  to  "  C.  A.,"  who 
invites  records  of  the  occurrence  of  the  Hawfinch 
(Coccothraustes  vulgaris),  1  may  inform  him  that  it 
is  tolerably  common  in  this  part  of  Sussex  (Uckfield), 
and  builds  every  year  in  my  own  grounds — notably 
in  an  orchard. — W.  N.  J. 

The  Hawfinch  (Coccothraustes  vulgaris). — In 
reply  to  your  correspondent  "C.  A.,"  in  last 
month's  Science-Gossip,  I  would  venture  to  offer 
the  following  memoranda  respecting  the  above  bird. 
I  have  found  it  nesting  in  Gloucestershire  in  1S70, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Campdcn.  It  also  bred 
near  Bristol  last  year,  and  again  in  the  same  place 
this  year.  (Field,  1871,  p.  506.)  I  have  taken  the 
nest  in  Leicestershire,  some  years  ago,  not  far  from 
Birstal,  in  that  county.  Here  I  may  mention  one  of 
the  peculiarities  iu  the  migrations  of  this  bird,  i.e., 
large  flocks  will  appear  in  a  part  of  the  country 
where  not  a  single  individual  has  been  noticed  for 
years,  and  when  no  particular  feature  in  the  season 


HAllDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


213 


can  account  for  such  appearance.  A  friend  of  mine 
has  found  the  Hawfinch  breeding  in  Wiltshire  and 
Berkshiie;  and  it  was  found  nesting  at  Windsor 
nearly  forty  rears  a<yo.  (Mudie's  "Feathered 
Tribes,"  vol  ii.  ed.  1S3J-.)  In  Middlesex  it  has 
bred  in  almost  every  part.  (Harting's  "  Birds  of 
Middlesex,"  pp.  Si  85.)  It  lias  been  known  to 
nest  in  Richmond  Park,  and  I  have  a  female  speci- 
men in  my  possession  which  was  shot  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Kingston-on-Thames,  with  the  bill  in 
the  deen  blue  leaden  colour  of  the  breeding  season. 
In  stuffed  birds,  however,  this  blue  fades  into  yel- 
low upon  the  under  surface  of  the  lower  mandible. 
In  Suffolk,  as  in  some  counties,  it  is  permanently 
resident,  and  in  the  adjoining  county  of  Norfolk  it 
has  bred  at  Weston,  Kimberley,  aud  Attenborough, 
as  recorded  by  Mr.  Stevenson.  ("Birds  of  Nor- 
folk," pp.  215,  216,  vol.  i.)  Mr.  Henry  Doubleday's 
excellent  contributions  to  ornithology  have  made 
known  to  many  that  Epping  Porest  may  be  con- 
sidered to  have  once  been  the  particular  home  of 
the  Hawfinch.  It  is  permanently  resident  there ; 
but,  unfortunately,  in  fast  decreasing  numbers,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Doubleday.  {Zoologist,  p.  5093.  See, 
however,  another  communication  from  the  same 
writer  in  The  Zoologist  for  March,  186S,  p.  1133.) 
During  the  present  year,  1871,  the  nest  of  the 
Hawfinch  has  been  taken  at  Kesgrave,  in  Suffolk ; 
at  Kington,  in  Herefordshire  [Zoologist,  S.S., 
p.  2682) ;  at  Weobley,  in  the  same  county  [Field, 
(July  8,  p.  31) ;  and'  at  Alresford,  in  Essex  (Dr. 
Bree,  in  The  Field,  July  8).  1  have  known  it  to 
breed  in  Worcestershire,  though  in  that  county  it 
is  a  rare  species.  Mr.  Lees  [Zoologist,  S.S.,  p.  2G37) 
mentions  that  its  nest  has  been  found  at  Malvern. 
Mr.  J.  H.  Gurney,  jun.,  saw  the  Hawfinch  at  Oued- 
el-Alleg  and  Miiiana,  in  Algeria  ("  Ornithology  of 
Algeria,"  Ibis,  for  July,  1871) ;  and  Mr.  Dresser,  in 
aninteresting  translation  from  the  Russian,  in  The 
Field,  August  12,  1871,  mentions  the  Hawfinch  as 
rare  in  the  Trans-Ural.— E.  F.  Peterson,  36,  Tavis- 
tock Crescent. 

Hawfinch. — Eor  the  information  of  your  corre- 
spondent "C.  A.,"  in  your  August  number,  I  beg 
to  state  that  a  couple  of  young  Hawfinches,  just 
fledged,  were  caught  here  on  the  2Sth  of  June. — 
Ernest  George  Hebbert,  Svicthboro',  Tunbridge  Wells. 

The  Oak  Eggak  [Lasiocampa  querais).  —  In 
answer  to  Mr.  W.  H.  Warner,  I  find  my  first  eggar 
commenced  spinning  on  May  12th.  In  1869  (which 
was  a  much  earlier  season  with  us)  I  had  a  pupa  on 
May  7th,  the  larva  having  completed  its  cocoon 
some  days  before.  Mr.  Warner  does  not  give  the 
exact  date  of  his  larva;  being  full-fed,  though  he 
observes,  "It  appears  to  be  remarkably  early." — /. 
Henderson. 

The  Small  Eggak,  [Eriogaster  lanestris). — In 
reference  to  the  habits  and  peculiarities  of  this 
species,  about  which  Mr.  Laddiman  seeks  further 
information  (p.  165),  I  beg  to  state  that  some  years 
since  I  found  a  great  mortality  took  place  when 
the  larvae  were  reared  in  confinement.  But  in  this, 
as  in  some  other  instances,  it  has  been  too  hastily 
assumed  that  this  mortality  is  peculiar  to  their  life 
in  captivity.  I  am  rather  inclined  to  believe  that 
it  is  a  delicate  larva  under  all  circumstances,  aud 
though  seemingly  not  much  troubled  by  insect  para- 
sites, it  is  kept  in  check  by  the  prevalence  of  some 
disease  which  diminishes  their  numbers.  Were  it 
not  for  this,  as  the  moth  lays  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  eggs,  we  should  probably  have  it  as  abun- 


dant as  the  well-known  Lackey.  Since  the  time  I 
reared  any  of  the  larvae  of  this  species,  I  have  been 
told  that  slightly  damping  the  cocoons  is  advan- 
tageous— a  practice  which  is  rarely  resorted  to  by 
the  entomologist  in  the  case  of  those  pupa;  thus 
enclosed.  It  might  be  worth  a  trial.  In  Science- 
Gossip,  vol.  i.  p.  126,  is  an  interesting  account  of 
this  moth ;  the  author  was  very  successful  with  the 
brood  he  had  in  rearing.—/.  Ii.  S.  C. 

The  Small  Eggaii  [Eriogaster  lanestris). — My 
experiences  of  the  larvse  of  this  interesting  moth 
are  similar  to  those  of  Mr.  Laddiman ;  which  fact, 
though  known  to  him,  may  perhaps  be  of  interest 
to  other  entomologists.  In  the  season  of  1869  I 
took  50  full-sized  larvae,  of  which  only  three  attained 
the  perfect  state.  In  1868,  out  of  40  larvae,  only  two 
moths  emerged,  and  one  of  these  was  "  a  cripple." 
What  makes  this  so  remarkable  is  the  fact  that 
other  species  are  easily  reared  in  the  same  box,  and 
on  the  same  plan,  with  complete  success.  Some 
other  Bombyces,  especially  the  Oak' Eggar  and  the 
Drinker  [Odonestls  potatoria),  die  off,  but  not  in 
such  large  quantities,  and  this  I  can  trace  to  the 
Ichneumon  Ply  in  many  cases.  As  I  have  a  large 
brood  of  full-grown  Small  Eggars  in  my  breeding- 
cages  at  the  present  time,  I  hope  to  be  more  suc- 
cessful with  them  ;  if,  however,  they  die  off,  I  shall 
endeavour  to  find  out  the  cause  of  the  "mortality," 
and  will  send  on  account  of  it  to  Science-Gossip. 
The  peculiar  length  of  time  occupied  by  the  Small 
Eggar  in  the  pupa  state  is  well  known  to  myself 
aud  other  Reading  collectors  of  whom  I  have  in- 
quired. I  have  only  had  one  double  cocoon  spun, 
to  my  recollection,  and  the  inmates  never  came  out. 
1  have  bred  large  numbers  of  the  Puss-moth,  but 
have  always  found  they  emerged  the  first  season. 

Polk-lore— Mad-stones.— "  Pive  children,  three 
white  and  two  black,  were  bitten  by  a  mad  dog  in 
Pulaski,  Tenn.,  one  day  last  week.  Mad-stones 
were  applied  promptly  to  the  white  children,  it  is 
said,  with  the  desired  effect,  all  of  them  being  now 
well  and  safe,  while  the  negro  children,  to  whom 
the  mad-stone  was  not  applied,  have  gone  mad. 
The  account  says  there  were  several  mad-stones  in 
the  neighbourhood."  The  above  extract  is  from 
a  New  York  paper  of  last  month,  and  it  is  possibly 
the  invention  of  some  penny-a-liner;  but  it  would 
be  interesting  to  know  if  there  really  exists  in 
America  a  popular  belief  that  certain  stones  have 
the  power  of  averting  hydrophobia  from  persons 
who  have  been  bitten  by  dogs,  and,  if  so,  some  ac- 
count might  be  given  of  the  nature  and  locality  of 
such  stones. — Fras.  Brent. 

Pishes  of  the  Joedan  (p.  166).— Dr.  Tristram 
states  that  the  species  of  fishes  inhabiting  the  Sea 
of  Galilee  and  the  Jordan  (which  of  course  are  iden- 
tical) closely  resemble  those  of  the  Nile.  The 
Bream,  Perch,  and  Carp  tribes  are  prominently  re- 
presented, together  with  silnroids  or  sheat-fish, 
called  by  Josephus  Coracini.  Dr.  Tristram  and  his 
companions  found  Chromis  nilotica  (a  bream),  Clarias 
macracanthus  (a  siluroid),  and  four  species  of 
Ilemichromis,  an  African  genus.  The  quantities  of 
these  fish  are  described  as  remarkable,  both  in  the 
lake  and  in  the  Jordan. — W.  H.  Groser. 

Cleaning  Skeletons  (p.  165).  —  Perhaps  if 
your  correspondent)  L.  Gillson,  instead  of  burying 
his  specimens,  would  try  placing  them  near  the  ant- 
hill in  a  perforated  box,  as  recommended  by  the 
Rev.  J.  G.  Wood  in  his  "  Common  Objects  of  the 


214 


HARD  WICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Sea-shore"  (chapter  on  star-fish),  he  would  suc- 
ceed better,  as  the  thin  bones  would  dry  and  harden 
rapidly  above  ground,  so  that  the  ants  would 
probably  be  unable  to  destroy  them. — 67.  H.  H. 

Local  Floras  (p.  163).— I  forward  titles  of  a 
few  English  local  floras,  extracted  from  one  of  Mr. 
Wheldon's  catalogues,  hoping  that  they  may  prove 
useful  to  Mr.  Wilkinson  and  other  intending  excur- 
sionists/should  we  have  any  summer  this  year  : — 

Bristol— "Flora  Bristoliensis,"  by  Swete,  1854. 

Cambridgeshire.  —  "  Flora,"  by  Babbington  (sic), 
1S60. 

Cheltenham  and  Environs. — "  Flora,"  by  Buchman, 
1844. 

Chudkigh,  Lustleigh,  &c— "  Botany,"  by  Halle, 
1851. 

Devon. — "  Flora  Devoniensis,"  by  Jones  and  King- 
ston, 1S29. 

Essex,  "Flora  of,"  by  Gibson,  1S62. 

Faversliam. — "  Catalogue  of  Plants,"  by  Jacob, 
1777. 

Kent,  East— "Floral  Guide,"  by  Cowell,  1839. 

Kent,  South. — "Rare  or  Remarkable  Plants,"  by 
Smith,  1S29. 

Isle  of  Wight— "List  of  Plants,"  by  Bromfield, 
1840;  "Flora  Victiana,"  1823. 

Liverpool. — "Flora,"  bv  Dickenson,  1851. 

Northumberland  and  Durham,  "Botauists'  Guide 
through,"  1807 ;  "  Botanical  Guide  through," 
by  Winch  (N.D.). 

Nottinghamshire.— '"Flora,"  by  Howitt,  1839. 

Oxfordshire.—  ''Flora,"  by  Walker,  1833. 

Poole  and  Neighbourhood. — "  Botanv,"  by  Salter, 
1839. 

Salisbury  and  Enviro)is. — "Natural  History,"  by 
Maton,  1843. 

Shropshire.—"  Flora,"  by  Leighton,  1841. 

Tunbridge  Wells,  "Plants  growing  wild  in  Neigh- 
bourhood of,"  by  Forster,  1816. 

Woodford,  Essex. — "  Catalogue  of  Plants,"  by  War- 
ner, 1771. 

Yorkshire.— "  Flora,"  by  Baines,  1840. 

To  these  may  be  added  Lee's  "Botanical  Looker- 
out,"  1851 ;  and  Turner  and  Dillwyn's  "  Botanist's 
Guide  through  England  and  Wales/'  1805.— W.  H. 
Groser,  Barnsbury,  N. 

Borrago  (vol.  vi.  165,  vii.  139).— The  redupli- 
cated r  in  this  word  would  be  perfectly  justified  by 
giving  up  its  supposedorigin  from  the  Greek  fiopa, 
and  referring  it  to  a  Latin  word  of  later  times —burra, 
short  wool,  flock  wool.  There  are  a  great  many 
derivations  in  the  Roman  languages  belonging  to 
this  root,  and  I  believe  borrago  is  one  of  them.  The 
rough  hairs  of  the  plant  were  probably  the  cause  of 
giving  it  the  name.  This  etymology  appears  to  be 
in  concordance  with  the  names  of  our  plant  in 
otber  languages — borraggiae  (Ital.),  borraja  (Span.), 
borragem  (Port.),  bourrache  (French),  borretsch 
(Germ.).  I  am  unable  to  decide  whether  the 
Arabic  name  ul-kahild  (Colmeiro,  "Examen  de  los 
Trabajos  concernientes  a  la  Flora  hispano-lusitana," 
Madrid,  1S70,  p.  24)  expresses  a  similar  idea.  (In 
vol.  yi.  p.  165,  of  Science-Gossip,  the  Italian, 
Spanish,  and  Portuguese  names  are  incorrectly 
spelt.) — A.  Ernst,  Caracas,  Venezuela. 

To  Clean  Birds.— Will  you,  or  any  of  your 
readers,  be  kind  enough  to  inform  me  of  a  receipt 
to  clean  birds'  feathers  ?  I  have  a  case  of  preserved 
birds,  which,  having  been  standing  some  time  with 
a  broken  glass,  arc  now  very  dirty. — S.  B.,  Brighton. 


Squirrel  versus  Missel-Thrtjsii.— 1  cannot 
agree  with  the  Rev.  R.  Blight  that  the  interesting 
occurrence  which  he  relates  in  last  month's 
Science-Gossip  affords  sufficient  ground  for  find- 
ing a  bill  against  the  squirrel  on  the  charge  of  so 
heinous  a  crime  as  "entering  dwelling-houses  with 
intent  to  murder;"  and,  as  this  pretty  little 
quadruped  is  an  especial  favourite  of  mine,  I  will 
venture  to  write  a  few  lines  in  its  defence.  Every- 
body is  aware  of  the  pugnacity  of  the  missel- 
thrush,  and  its  vigilance  in  defending  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  its  nest,  which  is  frequently  carried  to 
such  a  pitch  that  it  may  be  seen  to  "drive  small 
birds  (such  as  finches,  &c.)  out  of  the  tree  which 
it  has  chosen  for  the  purposes  of  incubation. 
Certainly  these  would  not  resort  to  the  place  with 
the  intention  of  sucking  its  eggs.  Not  one  hundred 
yards  from  where  I  write_  there  js  a  missel-thrush's 
nest,  which  I  generally  visit  once  a  day  to  see  how 
the  young  ones  are  progressing;  but,  far  from 
being  "permitted  to  climb  up  the  tree  so  as  to 
overlook  the  old  bird  on  the  nest  without  disturbing 
her,"  I  cannot  approach  the  spot  without  hearing 
the  peculiar  harsh  cry  of  this  bird  :  and  the  aspect 
of  the  female  is  most  threatening  when  I  am  at  the 
nest,  as  she  will  occasionally  swoop  close  past  my 
face,  scolding  fiercely  all  the  time.  This  being  the 
case,  1  cannot  imagine  that  the  Rev.  R.  Blight's 
missel-thrush  would  show  so  much  "pluck"  from 
any  feeling  that  her  eggs  or  young  were  in  greater 
danger  from  the  squirrel  than  from  the  other 
visitors  above  mentioned,  but  that  she  was  simply 
actuated  by  that  strange  instinct  which  charac- 
terizes this  bird  so  strongly,  especially  during  the 
breeding  season.  But,  looking  at  the  other  and 
more  important  side  of  the  question,  why  should 
the  squirrel  be  obliged  to  resort  to  a  kind  of  food 
which  we  know  is  never  eaten  by  its  relations — 
the  rabbit,  hare,  dormouse,  &c,  in  a  wild  state? 
Surely  our  little  friend  is  as  well  able  to  find  a 
sufficient  supply  of  vegetable  food  as  its  congeners. 
And  again,  judging  from  the  formation  of  the 
squirrel's  mouth,  I  don't  exactly  see  how  it  could 
suck  eggs,  even  were  it  to  visit  a  nest  with  that 
intention.  Although  I  doubt  the  sufficiency  of  the 
evidence  against  the  squirrel,  I  believe  there  is 
more  ground  to  prefer  a  similar  charge  against  the 
hedge-hog,  which,  however,  would  be  obliged  to 
confine  its  depredations  to  terra  firma. — H.  C.  Sar- 
gent, Fenketh,  near  Warrington. 

Cockroaches. — From  the  remarks  made  by  cor- 
respondents I  was  induced  to  try  borax  as  a  de- 
stroyer of  cockroaches,  but  my  experience  (like 
others)  has  been  a  complete  failure.  A  friend  of 
mine  who  was  for  a  long  time  sadly  troubled  with 
these  vermin  and  also  crickets,  was  advised  to  try 
powdered  hellebore,  which  I  suppose  will  be  the 
white  hellebore,  Veratrum  album,  and  the  result  he 
tells  me  has  been  surprising;  their  numbers  are 
diminishing  very  rapidly,  and  dead  carcasses  may  be 
counted  by  the  score.  The  powder  is  to  be  put  in 
their  haunts,  and  of  course  needs  very  careful 
handling,  being  an  acrid  and  active  poison :  its 
effect  on  the  eyes  and  nose  is  very  severe  also. — 
S.  H.  Gaskell. 

Sirex  jtjvenctjs  (p.  166). — I  have  one  male 
and  two  females  of  this  insect,  which  were  found 
last  autumn  in  Kensington  Gardens,  but  I  do  not 
know  whether  it  is  of  common  occurrence  here  or 
elsewhere.  Your  correspondent  may  like  to  hear  of 
its  occurrence  in  this  neighbourhood. — it.  Egerton. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


215 


Transmission  of  Natural  History  Speci- 
mens by  Post  (p.  191). — The  introduction  of  the 
new  rates  has  been  deferred,  but  will  take  place, 
the  Postmaster-General  says,  "  early  in  September." 
— G.  H.  H. 

Sirex  juvencus  (p.  166). — In  Newman's  Ento- 
mologist for  May,  in  answer  to  a  correspondent 
concerning  this  insect,  he  says,  amongst  other 
things,  "there  appear  to  be  three  species  inhabiting 
this  country,  and  each  confines  itself  to  a  single 
species  of  fir;"  then  follows  the  specific  distinctions 
of  each,  with  a  conjecture  of  the  probable  intro- 
duction of  two  of  them  into  Britain,  "seeing  that 
the  trees  on  which  they  feed  are  not  considered  to  be 
native."  Prom  the  partiality  of  Sirex  juvencus  and 
its  allies  to  the  fir  tribe,  we  may  conclude  that  it  is 
somewhat  local  in  this  country.  The  larger  and 
fine-looking  species  Sirex  gigas  is,  I  believe,  the 
commonest  of  the  genus. — G.  B.  E. 

Pood  oe  Spiders  in  Dare.  Cellars,  &c— Has 
not  Dr.  White  furnished  an  answer  to  the  query  of 
Mr.  Clifford,  p.  152,  by  the  observation  of  the  pre- 
sence of  Poduridce.  with  the  spiders  in  the  coal-pit  ? 
I  often  find  both  together ;  and  when  I  want  small 
moths,  or  Podura,  I  search  a  dark  unused  cellar,  and 
generally  find  both,  and  spiders  too,  which  I  sup- 
pose will  make  "food"  of  them,  and  probably 
"  spin  webs,"  as  in  other  places,  to  entertain  their 
customers.—/.  H. 

Rhagitjm. — Can  any  of  your  correspondents  give 
me  some  particulars  of  the  Ehagium  bifaseiatum,  as 
1  have  taken  several  lately,  but  cannot  fiud  a  de- 
scription of  them  ?—J.  L.  C. 

Sfarrows  in  America. — The  sparrows  {Passer 
domesticus)  imported  some  two  years  ago  from 
England  have  now  become  quite  naturalized.  Their 
favourite  place  of  abode  at  present  seems  to  be  the 
public  squares— portions  of  ground  in  the  heart  of 
the  city,  some  eight  or  ten  acres  in  extent,  thickly 
planted  with  trees,  to  the  trunks  and  branches  of 
which  are  attached  small  wooden  boxes  in  the  shape 
of  a  modern  house :  in  these  they  build  and  rear 
their  young.  At  first  they  were  objects  of  great 
curiosity,  many  "Old  Country"  people  coming 
miles  to  look  once  again  upon  the  bird  so  familiar 
in  years  gone  by.  They  are  carefully  guarded,  and 
well  fed  in  winter;  a  heavy  penalty  is  inflicted  on 
those  who  injure  them.  The  consequence  is,  they 
increase  rapidly,  and  are  spreading  over  the  city — 
a  very  paradise  for  sparrows.  They  have  nearly 
eradicated  the  loathsome  Measuring-worm.  A 
locust  alighted  on  a  catalpa-tree  a  day  or  so  ago, 
when  it  was  fiercely  attacked  by  one  of  these  in- 
trepid little  strangers,  and  notwithstanding  its 
great  strength  and  size  and  its  struggles  to  escape, 
was  finally  vanquished  and  carried  off  by  the  victor. 
One  day  last  week  an  enemy  appeared  in  the  shape 
of  a  large  eagle,  who,  utterly  regardless  of  conse- 
quences, killed  four  of  our  little  favourites  ere  his 
career  was  stopped  short  by  a  ball  from  the  rifle  of 
a  police  officer. — 67.  W.}  Philadelphia,  U.S. 

The  Gipsy  Moth  {Liparis  dispar). — Many  en- 
tomologists have  bred  this  species  in  confinement, 
though  the  "  domestic  variety,"  if  it  may  so  be 
called,  is  less  in  size  and  lighter  in  colour  than  the 
original  type.  It  has  been  supposed,  for  many  years 
past,  that  it  has  entirely  died  out  in  these  islands, 
common  as  it  is  abroad  in  some  districts.    Two 


captures  have  been  recently  recorded,  which  are  of 
interest,  as  proving  that  the  gipsy  moth,  though  as 
scarce  or  scarcer  than  genuine  biped  gipsies,  has 
not  disappeared  altogether.  In  a  wood,  called 
Butter  Wood,  about  two  miles  from  Odiham,  a  fine 
moth  was  captured  in  July,  1870 ;  and  a  Scottish 
collector  reports,  that  in  the  same  year,  while  pass- 
ing by  coach  near  Loch  Mare,  a  caterpiller  Of  the 
species  fell  upon  him  from  a  tree  near  the  road. 
The  precise  date  of  this  is  not  stated,  but  both  ac- 
counts are  apparently  given  bond  fide. — /.  R.  S.  G. 

"  Bats  flying  in  Sunshine." — I  have  a  bat  set 
up  among  a  box  of  stuffed  birds,  which  I  shot  about 
noon  one  bright  sunshiny  day  near  midsummer.  It 
was  not  hawking  flies,  as  described  by  "  H.  L.," 
page  161,  but  seemingly  fluttering  in  perplexity, 
and  it  certainly  perplexed  me ;  for  supposing  it  to 
be  some  kind  of  bird,  its  form  and  flight  puzzled  me 
not  a  little,  and  having  secured  it,  I  was  astonished 
to  find  it  a  short-eared  bat.—/.  H. 

The  Bee  Orchid. — Whilst  staying  at  Ventnor, 
I.W.,  during  the  eai'ly  part  of  June  last,  I  observed 
the  Bee  Orchid  growing  very  freely  in  a  field  along 
the  cliffs,  about  half  a  mile  from  the  town,  and 
opposite  to  Steephill  Castle.  I  was  somewhat 
astonished,  knowing  it  to  be  a  rare  plant,  and  con- 
tented myself  with  taking  only  two  or  three  speci- 
mens, though,  indeed,  they  might  almost  have  been 
gathered  in  dozens,  as  they  grew  only  a  few  feet 
apart  from  each  other,  in  the  chalky  soil  along  the 
bank.  Subsequently  I  discovered  a  few  on  St. 
Catherine's  Down,  but  not  nearly  so  many  as  in  the 
first-mentioned  locality.  I  was  told  by  some  work- 
men that  what  they  termed  the  Spider  Orchid,  and 
which  has,  1  believe,  the  petals  white  instead  of 
purple,  might  occasionally  be  met  with ;  I,  however, 
searched  for  it  in  vain.  I  fear  it  is  somewhat  late 
in  the  day  to  send  this  communication  now,  but  as 
it  may  prove  a  slight  guide  to  some  who  may  wish 
to  obtain  the  plant  next  year,  and  who  may  chance 
to  be  in  the  neighbourhood,  I  do  so,  thinking  on 
that  account  you  may  deem  it  worthy  of  insertion. 
— =/.  S.  William  Durham. 

Griffithsia  corallina. — There  is  at  present 
(August  14th)  a  great  quantity  of  this  beautiful 
species  on  the  beach  at  Bournemouth.  Those  of 
your  readers  who  only  know  this  plant  from  dried 
specimens,  can  have  no  idea  of  its  beauty.  When 
held  up  before  a  candle,  or  between  the  eye  and  the 
sun,  it  sparkles  in  a  most  peculiar  and  beautiful 
manner ;  and  even  when  held  in  the  hand,  and  the 
sun  allowed  to  shine  on  it,  it  seems  almost  like  a 
diamond,  the  peculiar  jointed  appearance  of  the 
frond  producing  a  fine  effect.  When  dried  it  loses 
much  of  its  beauty,  and,  like  its  congener  Griffithsia 
setacea,  stains  the  paper  of  a  pinkish  hue. — f.  W* 

Ragwort. — Walking  out  with  some  friends  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Douglas,  Isle  of  Man,  we 
met  an  old  Manx  woman,  who  was  carrying  in  her 
hand  a  large  piece  of  ragwort  {Tussilago  Farfara). 
We  asked  what  she  used  it  for,  and  she  replied  that 
it  was  to  prevent  her  from  catching  infectious 
diseases;  that  when  she  visited  any  one  who  was 
ill,  she  always  smelted  at  a  piece  of  ragwort  before 
entering  the  room,  which  preserved  her  from  taking 
the  complaint.  She  told  us  she  had  used  ragwort 
for  this  purpose  ever  since  she  was  a  girl. — G.  H.  H. 

[Ragwort  is  Senecio,  why  call  Tussilago  "  Rag- 
wort"?—Ed.  S.-G.] 


216 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


J.  S.— Looks  like  "  dry  rot''  fungus  in  an  imperfect  state. 

N.B.— The  pea  blight  is  Erysiphe  Martii.  See  "  Cooke's 
Microscopic  Fungi,"  p.  1/3. 

j,  h. You  will  find  information  on  injurious  insects  in 

Koliar's  book  on  the  subject ;  a  little  in  "  Kirby  and  Spence's 
Entomology  ;"  some  papers  scattered  over  the  "  Gardener's 
Chronicle"  for  many  years;  Harris's  "Insects  injurious  to 
Vegetation;"  Fitch's  "Reports  on  Noxious  Insects  of  the 
United  States,"  &c. 

r.  p.— A  book  recently  published  by  Lovell  Reeve  &  Co. 
on  "  Common  Insects  "  at  about  twelve  shillings. 

H.  T.— Page's  "Text-book  of  Geology"  and  Nicholson's 
"  Manual  of  Zoology,"  we  should  think,  would  answer  your 
purpose. 

R.  V.  T.— The  lichen  is  Squamaria  crassa. 

E.  C.  J.— Not  included. 

T.  W.— Send  insect  and  nest,  then  we  may  tell  you. 

J.  B. — Not  uncommon. 

J.  S.  R.— We  know  nothing  of  exchanges  beyond  what  is 
stated  in  the  notices. 

C,  p.  w. — White  fungus,  Cpstopus  Candidas,  No.  15D4. 
Brown  fungus,  TrichobcuU  suaveulens,  No.  1588. 

H.  J. — Solen  ensis,  and 

E.  C.  J.— The  beetle  is  Apion  pisi.—C.  W. 

Mount  Pleasant  (name  illegible).— The  insect  is  Siren  gigas. 
—  C.  W. 

J.  F. — By  no  means  uncommon. 

J.  D.  H. — Trickobasis  cichoracearum. 

\V.  M.— Inquire  at  Mr.  C.  Baker's,  optician,  High  Holborn, 
for  Hartnack's  objectives.  _ 

C.  L. — For  American  moth-trap,  see  "Entomologist's 
Monthly  Magazine  "  for  February,  1S66. 

E.  de  B.  M.— The  stalked  eggs  of  the  Lace-wing  Fly 
{Chrysopa  per/a). 

q  s,  w.— The  parasitic  fly  is  Mesochorus  splendidulus. — 
F.  W. 

Miss  R.  — We  do  not  know— but  probably  of  any  good 
dealer  in  natural  history  objects. 

J.  G.  R.  P.— Pupa  of  a  fly;  when  it  is  "out,"  we  will  tell 
you  the  name. 

Fiklh  Naturalists'  Clubs  — If  secretaries  of  country 
associations  of  this  character  will  send  full  titles  with  the 
name  and  address  of  secretary,  we  purpose  publishing  a  list 
for  the  convenience  of  our  readers. 

E.  M.  P.— Naldire's  Tablet  is  said  to  be  effectual. 

Too  Late.— Correspondents  should  remember  that  the 
15th  is  the  latest  date  at  which  a  communication  should  be 
sent  for  the  current  month. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.— Only  one  "  Exchange"  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britain)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Peristome  of  Funaria  hygrometrica  (mounted  to  show 
hygrometric  process) ;  also  Rose,  Strawberry,  and  Meadow- 
sweet Brands,  for  other  good  mounted  objects. — J.  C.  Hope 
81,  Shude  Hill,  Manchester. 

Xenodochus  carbonarius,  and  other  fungi,  for  fungi,  lichens, 
&c. — Rev.  J.  E.  Vize,  Forden,  Welshpool. 

For  exchange,  Canadian  and  American  diatoms,  un- 
cleaned,  for  English  or  foreign  diatomaceous  earths.— Apply 
to  A.  J.  Johnson,  St.  Thomas's  Hospital. 

Wanted,  Imagos  or  Pupae  of  British  Lepidoptera.  Will 
give  in  exchange  shells,  ferns,  or  other  lepidoptera. — E.  F.  B., 
Maelog  House,  Beaumaris,  Anglesea. 

Nuphar  pumila,  &c,  for  other  British  plants. — Richard 
McKay,  298,  High  Street,  Glasgow. 

British  Lepidoptera. — Miniata,  Conspicuata,  Sponsa, 
Promissa,  Parthenias,  Notha,  &c,  for  other  (rare  or  local) 
species. — H.  Miller,  jun.,  Ipswich. 

Phyteuma  sphatum,  &c,  for  other  rare  plants. — W.  H. 
Beeby,  41,  North  End,  Croydon. 

Phyteuma  spicatum,  Viria  lutea,  Cineraria  campestris. 
Crocus  verniu,  Lathyrus  Nissolia,  Geranium  pyrenaicum, 
Tliesium  humifusum,  Myosurus  minimus,  Sec,  for  exchange. 
— R.  Payne,  12,  Brook  Road,  Stoke  Newington,  N. 

Notodonta  Zigzag. — I  shall  be  happy  to  send  Ova  or  small 
Larvae  of  this  species  to  any  one  in  want  of  it,  on  receipt  of 
box,  &c,  for  the  purpose. — F.  D.  Wheeler,  2,  Chester  Place, 
St.  Giles  Road,  Norwich. 

Good  specimen  of  both  white  and  spotted  Elephant  Hawk- 
moth  to  exchange. — Send  list  of  duplicates  to  F.  Piquet,  York 
Street,  Jersey.     Enclose  stamp  to  insure  reply. 

Palates  of  Moi.lusca. — Six  varieties  offered  for  good 
microscopic  objects  and  stamped  envelope. — Rev.  W.  M. 
Hutton,  Lezayre  Vicarage,  Ramsey,  Isle  of  Man. 


Elpenor,  Zicznc,  Prodromaria,  Urticce,  Mendica,  and  other 
Pupae,  Dicta-a,  Populi,  Vinula,  Tt.  rubi,  and  other  Larvae  for 
Pupae,  Larvae,  or  Imagos.  Send  list.— A.  Pickard.Wolsingham, 
Darlington. 

Rare  Devonshire  Alc«,  for  Northern  or  others. — E.  W. 
Holmes,  2,  Arundel  Crescent,  Plymouth. 

For  Hair  of  Hedgehog  send  stamped  address  to  Isaac 
Wheatley,  Mailing  Street,  Lewes.  Any  microscopical  object 
acceptable. 

British  Plants  (dried)  in  exchange  for  others.  Send 
lists  to  John  C.  Hutcheson,  8,Lansdowne  Crescent,  Glasgow. 

Butterflies,  Moths,  and  Beetles,  offered  in  exchange  for 
foreign  shells,  fossils,  or  polished  stones.  List  given  and 
required. — M.  M.,  Post-office,  Faversham,  Kent. 

Poi.ia-Chi,  Cloantha  Svliduginis,  Cidaria  populata,  La- 
rentia  multistrigata,  &c,  for  other  British  or  allied  Lepido- 
ptera.—D.  Jolliffe,  Naturalists'  Club,  Ridge-Hill  lane,  Staley- 
bridge. 

Choice  Alpine  and  herbaceous  plants  and  seeds  are  offered ; 
others  wanted.  Send  lists,  and  stamp  for  lists,  to  D.D., 
Post-office,  Bitterne,  near  Sonthampton. 

Fossils  wanted  for  microscopical  material.  Send  lists. — 
W.  Freeman,  ids,  Maxey  Road,  Plumstead. 

Wanted,  Stratiotes  uloides,  or  Water- soldier,  and  Subu- 
laria  nqu  ntica,  or  Awl  wort,  for  Valisneria  spiralis  or  other 
aquatic  plants.— David  Mitchell,  2,  Davys  Yard,  Foundry 
Street,  Halifax. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"Land  and  Water."    Nos.  288,  289,  290,  291. 

"  Transactions   of  the  Norfolk   and  Norwich  Naturalists' 
Society  for  1870-1."     Norwich:  Fletcher  &  Son. 

"A  New  View  of  Causation."     By  Thomas  Squire  Barrett. 
London  :  Provost  &  Co. 

"  Notes  on  Chalcididae."     Part  III. — Torymydae  and  Chal- 
cididae.     By  Francis  Walker,  F.L.S.    London  :  E.  W.Janson. 

"The  Canadian  Entomologist."  Vol.  Ill  ,  No.  2.  Edited 
by  the  Rev.  C.  J.  S.  Bethune,  M.A. 

"Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,"  for  August,  1871.  Lon- 
don: Robert  Hardwicke. 

"  The  American  Naturalist."  Vol.  V.,  No.  6.  For  August, 
1871.     Salem:   Peabody  Academy. 

"Journal  of  Applied  Science,"  for  August,  1871. 

"  The  Animal  World,"  for  August,  I871. 

"American  Journal  of  Microscopy."  No.  3.  Chicago: 
Speakman  Si  Co. 

"  Australian  Medical  Journal."  No.  122.  June,  1871. 
Melbourne  :  Stilwell  &  Knight. 

"  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry."     August,  1 87  I . 

"  Our  Eyes,  and  how  to  take  care  of  them."  By  Henrv 
W.  Williams,  M.D.     London:  William  Tegg. 

"Bulletin  of  the  Essex  Institute."     Vol.11.    Salem,  Mass. 

"  Annual  Report  of  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  for  I869."    Washington,  18/1 . 

"Appendix  to  Benjamin  Anderson's  Journey  to  Musadu." 
New  York,  I87O. 

"  Second  and  Third  Annual  Reports  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
Peabody  Academy  of  Science,  for  1869-70."     Salem,  Mass. 

"  Fourth  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Fisheries  of  the 
State  of  Maine,  for  1870."    Augusta,  I870. 

"  First  Annual  Report,  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Indiana, 
made  during  I869."  By  E.  T.  Cox,  State  Geologist.  Indiano- 
polis,  I869. 

"  Tne  Water-power  of  Maine."  By  Walter  Wells,  Superin- 
tendent Hydrographic  Survey  of  Maine.  Augusta:  Sprague, 
Owen,  &  Nash. 

"  Monthly  Reports  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for 
1870."     Edited  by  J.  R.  Dodge.     Washington,  1871. 

"  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  for  I869." 
Washington,  1870. 

"To-Day:  "  a  Paper  printed  during  the  Fair  of  the  Essex 
Institute  and  Oratorio  Society,  at  Salem,  Mass.     1870. 

"  Report  of  an  Inquiry  in  regard  to  the  Prevalence  and 
Ravages  of  the  Colorado  Potato- Beetle  (Doryphora  10-lineuta) 
in  the  Western  Portion  of  Ontario."  By  Win.  Saunders  and 
E.  B.  Reed.    Toronto  :  Hunter,  Rose,  &  Co. 


Communications  Received.— G.  S.  W.— R.  H.  W.— R.  B. 
— M.  A.  D.— J.  R.  S.  C— G.  W.— H.  T— J.  D.— E.  F.  B  — 
J.  E.  V.— J.  S.— H.  E.  W.— J.  C— R.  P.— A.  J.  J.— T.— N.  B.— 
C.  L.  J.— W.  H.  W.— F.  R.  M.  (No.)— W.  R.  T.— A.  H.  A.— 
M.  D.— W.  N.— E.  F.  E— H.  H.— F.  V.  P.— J.  A.— E.  M.  P.- 
J.  B.— J.  C.  H.— R.  McK.-R.  B.  S.— B.  T.  G.— E.  C  J.— 
W.A.C.-J.  B.— J.  H.— C.  J.  W.  R.— R.  P.— E.  D.  B-H.C.R. 
— E.  G.  H.— T.  R  —  R.  S— S.  P.— J.  M.— W.  H.  B.— C.  F.  W. 
— J.  B.— G.  H.  H.— J.  S.  R.-H.  M.,  Jun.— W.  F.— D.  D.— 
T.  W.— D.  J.— E.  F.  P.— J.  S.  W.— E.  B.  F.— J.  C.  H.— T.  J. 
—I.  W.— E.  W.  H.- J.  B.  B.— M.  A.  J.— G.  B.  E.— T.  C.  O.— 
S.  S.— H.  I.— A.  P.— A.  C.  H.-W.  M.  H.— J.  C.  H.— C.  L.— 
F.  D.  W.— W.  M.— F.  P.— C.  B.— C.  F.— J.  F.— F.  A.  W.— 
J.  G.  R.  P.— D.  M— S.  S. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


217 


WHAT  THE  PIECE  OE  PUBBECK  MAEBLE  HAD  TO  SAY. 

By  J.  E.  TAYLOR,  F.G.S.,  Etc. 


fHERE  are  few 
of  my  intelligent 
hearers  who  are 
not  acquainted 
with  the  pecu- 
liarities of  my 
appearance.  In 
this  civilized 
where  old  churches 
I  may  have  formed  a 
portion  of  the  fonts  in  which 
they  were  christened,  or  the 
pillars  of  the  Early  English 
doorway  by  which  they  will  be 
carried  to  receive  the  last 
sacerdotal  rites.  As  a  slab  near 
the  altar,  some  of  them  may 
have  stood  on  me  whilst  they 
took  upon  themselves  the 
solemn  duties  of  matrimony, 
little  dreaming  of  the  long  lines  of  generation  the 
obscure  stone  at  their  feet  could  tell  them. 

I  belong  to  the  upper  part  of  that  geological 
formation  termed  the  "  Oolitic,"  from  the  peculiar 
"  roe-like "  appearance  often  presented  by  some  of 
its  limestones.  This  general  name  is  another  of 
those  instances  of  the  early  nomenclature  of 
geology  which  are  obliged  to  be  retained  now  from 
their  extended  use,  although  they  are  found  to  be 
no  longer  specially  applicable.  Of  course  I  cannot 
be  expected  to  remember  exactly  what  took  place 
before  I  was  born ;  all  I  can  do  is  to  tell  you  what 
I  have  heard,  handed  clown  by  oral  tradition  through 
the  long  line  of  my  ancestors.  I  am  the  last  of  the 
family,  and  left  no  descendants.  After  me  came 
that  series  of  deposits  included  under  the  general 
term  "  Cretaceous,"  or  Chalk.  But,  as  my  hearers 
would  expect,  there  are  palseontological  reasons  for 
myself  and  brethren  being  grouped  together.  These 
are  chiefly  the  family  likeness  of  our  included  fossils, 
marine,  freshwater,  and  terrestrial.  I  heard  what 
my  cousin  the  Piece  of  Jet  had  to  say,  and  may  here 
No.  82. 


remark  that  it  is  a  pity  his  formation  is  not  con- 
sidered as  one  of  us,  and  not  treated  as  if  he  were 
simply  a  distant  connection.  Many  of  his  fossils  are 
so  much  like  those  of  our  family  that,  even  if  they 
are  specifically  distinct,  a  good  relationship  to  us 
may  be  made  out  of  them. 

The  lowest  beds  of  the  great  geological  system  to 
which  I  belong  go  by  the  modern  name  of  the  "  In- 
ferior Oolite."  But  though  these  follow  in  direct 
order,  there  was  a  great  interval  of  time  between  the 
succession.  This  is  plainly  shown  by  the  fact  that 
out  of  the  hundreds  of  species  of  fossil  shells 
peculiar  to  the  upper  parts  of  the  Lias,  not  quite 
forty  species  lived  long  enough  to  become  fossilized 
in  the  lower  beds  of  the  Oolite ;  many  of  the  rest 
became  extinct,  whilst  others  perhaps  migrated  to 
areas  where  the  physical  conditions  better  suited 
them.  There  was  a  greater  longevity  in  certain 
creatures  then,  just  as  there  is  now;  for  we  find 
several  species  of  bivalves  and  ammonites  existing 
during  the  long  period  of  time  which  elapsed  whilst 
the  entire  series  of  beds  composing  the  Oolitic  for- 
mation were  being  slowly  deposited. 

I  will  just  give  you  the  list  of  the  principal  of 
this  series,  mentioning  them  first  in  the  order  of 
their  antiquity  or  seniority — a  practice  no  doubt  in 
vogue  among  yourselves.  After  the  Inferior  Oolite 
comes  the  Great,  or  Bath  Oolite,  and  Stonesfield 
Slate.  The  Cornbrash  and  Forest  Marbles  complete 
what  is  termed  the  "Lower  Oolite."  Then  come 
the  Oxford  Clay  and  Kelloway  Rock,  both  perhaps 
contemporaneous — the  Coral  Rag  completing  the 
"  Middle  Oolite."  The  Kimmeridge  Clay,  Portland 
Stone,  and  Purbeck  series  form  the  "Upper  Oolite," 
and  bring  the  entire  formation  to  a  conclusion. 
These  deposits  stretch  across  England,  in  a  belt  of 
about  thirty  miles  in  width,  from  Yorkshire  to  Dor- 
setshire. They  follow  each  other  in  tolerably  regular 
order,  and  as  they  are  relatively  composed  of  shales, 
sandstones,  and  hard  limestones,  and  as  the  entire 
series  has  been  much  exposed  to  atmospherical  and 
marine  wear  and  tear  since  they  were  solidified  and 


218 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


upheaved,  it  follows  that  this  denudation  has  heen 
so  operative  as  to  wear  away  the  softer  beds  and  to 
leave  the  harder  standing.  Hence  the  physical  geo- 
graphy of  the  whole  formation  differs  according  to 
the  underlying  geology.  Deep  valleys  or  extensive 
plains  lie  where  the  clayey  or  argillaceous  strata 
crop  out;  and  broken  hills,  frequently  with  more 
or  less  steep  westerly  escarpments,  indicate  the 
areas  occupied  by  the  limestones  and  harder  sand- 
stones. 

As  might  be  expected,  when  it  is  remembered  that 
this  series  of  deposits  was  formed  chiefly  along  the 
old  sea-bottoms,  there  must  have  been  an  extensive 
and  long- continued  list  of  geographical  changes 
rung  whilst  it  went  on.  The  bed  of  the  ocean  was 
alternately  the  receptacle  for  the  fine  muds  brought 
down  by  rivers,  along  whose  deltas  grew  the  rich 
vegetation  locked  up  in  the  coal-seams  and  shales  of 
the  Lower  Oolite  near  Scarborough.  Then  we  have 
evidence  of  a  depression  of  the  area,  which  removed 
the  sphere  of  deposition  of  the  mud,  and  brought 
clear  water  over  the  site.  Here  the  physical  condi- 
tions allowed  mollusca,  corals,  &c,  to  swarm  in 
abundance,  and  their  accumulated  remains  thus 
formed  the  limestones.  ,  Calcareous  sandstones 
were  formed  out  of  the  comminuted  coral  reefs, 
shells,  &c.  Occasionally,  influxes  of  mud  killed  off 
large  numbers  of  encrinites,  as  at  Bradford,  near 
Bath,  and  buried  them  beneath  its  debacle,  clear 
water  returning  shortly  afterwards,  as  the  parasitic 
zoophytes,  &c,  which  attached  themselves  to  the 
broken  joints  of  the  encrinites,  plainly  indicate.  At 
length  the  deposits  more  or  less  filled  up  the  shal- 
lower parts  of  the  sea,  and  upheaval  converted  a 
portion  of  it  into  dry  land.  The  hollows  of  this 
land  became  freshwater  lakes,  in  which  swarms  of 
Planorbis,  Pahidina,  and  other  well-known  fresh- 
water snails  lived.  The  water  was  clear,  and  there 
was  no  great  amount  of  muddy  materials  carried 
into  these  lakes.  Time  only  was  required  for  the 
shells  to  accumulate  along  their  floors  to  "such  an 
extent,  that,  in  their  solidified  condition,  they  form 
the  bulk  of  that  well-known  "Purbeck  Marble"  of 
which  I  am  a  humble  and  minute  portion.  Occa- 
sionally the  sea-waters  backed  up  the  fresh,  and 
encroached  on  some  portion  of  the  lakes,  holding 
the  place  sufficiently  long  for  brackish-water  shells 
to  live  and  multiply  there,  and  to  leave  their  remains 
behind  them  in  token  of  what  I  have  said.  Even 
the  pure  sea-water  once  or  twice  gained  ground,  as 
the  beds  of  fossil  oysters,  &c.  intercalated  in  the 
Purbeck  beds  reasonably  show  us.  In  these 
different  beds  you  find  evidences  of  nearly  all  kinds 
of  deposition,  from  the  tolerably  deep  water  in 
which  the  "  Coral  Rag "  was  formed,  chiefly  as  a 
coral  reef,  to  the  ripple-marked  flagstones  of  the 
"  Great  Oolite,"  in  which  also  you  get  tracks  of 
worms,  crustaceans,  &c.  The  total  thickness  of  the 
entire  series  is  about  [two  thousand  four  hundred 


feet,  which  alone  will  give  you  some  idea  of  the 
enormous  period  of  time  represented  by  them. 

There  are  few  geological  formations  so  rich  in 
fossils  as  the  Oolite.  Not  only  in  individuals,  but 
also  in  species,  the  rocks  are  one  vast  museum, 
illustrating  a  particular  stage  in  the  world's  past 
history.  You  may  catch  glimpses  of  life  in  every 
form  of  its  enjoyment — in  the  mighty  Saurians 
which  frequented  the  open  seas ;  in  the  busy  coral 
reefs  secreting  lime;  in  the  bony-plated  fishes, 
whose  glistening  enamelled  scales  glanced  through 
the  waters.  You  see  the  low  tide  fringed  by  a 
vegetation,  partly  growing  on  the  mud-banks  as  a 
swamp,  and  you  distinguish  forms  now  regarded  as 
sub-tropical  to  Britain.  The  sea-bed  is  literally  alive 
with  cidaris,  bivalves,  univalves,  sea-lilics,  and  lamp- 
shells.  Overhead,  over  land  aud  water,  the  flying 
lizards  {Vterodactyles)  whirl  and  swoop.  The  tiny 
kangaroo  rats  and  opossums  are  busy  in  the  forests, 
some  lying  in  wait  for  their  numerous  insect  prey, 
and  others,  more  bloody-minded,  are  cannibally 
inclined  !  The  great  freshwater  lakes,  along  whose 
floors  I  was  formed  by  the  simple  accumulation 
of  ordinary  freshwater  shells,  were  set  in  a  dense 
and  beautiful  framework  of  pine-trees,  of  cycads, 
zamias,  and  tree-ferns.  But,  vast  as  the  period  of 
time  is  since  this,  the  last  of  the  oolitic  series,  was 
formed,  numbering,  as  it  undoubtedly  does,  millions 
of  years,  it  has  all  elapsed  within  the  lifetime  of 
existing  genera  of  shells !  The  Paludina,  which 
principally  make  up  my  bulk,  can  hardly  be  told, 
even  by  experienced  conchologists,  from  the  ordi- 
nary freshwater  snails  which  still  inhabit  English 
rivers !  In  structure  of  limb,  tooth,  and  general 
adaptation,  the  highest  orders  of  animals  then 
existing  were  wonderfully  like  their  Australian 
and  North- American  brethren. 

In  the  swampier  places,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
oolitic  period,  where  the  vegetation  grew  thick  and 
rank,  beds  of  peat  were  formed  and  covered  up  by 
mud.  This  peat  subsequently  became  coal.  The 
iron  diffused  through  the  muddy  mass  was  influenced 
by  chemical  action,  so  as  to  reunite  and  segregate, 
as  an  argillaceous  carbonate,  into  layers  and  nodules 
of  iron-stone.  In  this  respect,  the  physical  condi- 
tions greatly  resembled  those  which  existed  during 
the  Carboniferous  epoch,  and  therefore  the  results 
are  very  similar.  All  you  have  to  do  is  to  transpose 
the  animals  and  plants  of  the  two  eras,  the  differ- 
ence in  each  of  which  represents  the  amount  of 
time  which  had  elapsed  between  them,  and  in 
which  the  vital  modifications  had  taken  place.  In 
the  Stonesfield  slate— a  calcareous  shak,  and  a 
capital  burial-ground  of  extinct  animals—there 
were  entombed  the  remains  of  at  least  four  species 
of  mammalia.  As  I  before  remarked,  however, 
all  the  warm-blooded  animals  which  lived  during 
the  Oolitic  period  belonged  to  the  lowest  order  of 
their  kind— the  marsupials,  or  pouched  animals, 


HABDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


219 


notorious  for  bringing  forth  their  young  in  a  half- 
gestated  condition.  When  you  ascend  higher  in 
the  Oolitic  series,  through  the  more  purely  marine 
deposits,  where,  of  course,  you  would  not  expect 
to  find  the  land  creatures  well  represented,  and 
come  to  the  Purbeck  beds,  then  you  will  be 
astonished  at'  the  large  number  of  species  of 
marsupials,  and  the  great  modification  and  adap- 
tation in  their  habits  which  had  taken  place.  The 
streams  enteriug  the  lakes  where  the  Purbeck 
marble  was  formed  were  much  more  likely  to  carry 
the  carcasses  of  these  dead  marsupials  there,  and 
therefore  the  bottom  of  that  lake  was  more  likely 
to  be  a  richer  cemetery  of  their  remains. 

Some  of  the  oolitic  strata  are  much  more  favour- 
able to  the  preservation  of  organic  remains  than 
others,  and  these  invariably  give  us  a  glimpse  of 
animal  and  vegetable  life  which,  although  of  a 
much  lower  organization  on  the  whole  than  the 
present,  was  yet  admirably  adjusted  each  to  the 
other.  Thus,  the  fourteen  species  of  marsupials 
above  mentioned  were  all  obtained  from  a  thin  seam, 
three  or  four  inches  thick,  in  the  Purbeck  series, 
and  from  an  excavated  area  of  about  five  hundred 
square  yards !  Of  all  these  rich  fossiliferous  de- 
posits, however,  perhaps  the  most  interesting  is 
at  Solenhofen,  where  there  occurs  the  stone  of  that 
name,  much  iu  use  now,  I  am  told,  for  lithographic 
purposes.  The  sediment  of  which  it  is  composed 
is  very  fine,  so  that  the  quality  which  gives  it  its 
economical  value  to  man  is  exactly  that  which  has 
rendered  it  such  a  splendid  sarcophagus  for  the 
fossils  of  the  oolite.  Porty  yeai's  ago  there  had 
been  obtained  from  this  one  deposit  no  fewer  than 
between  two  and  three  hundred  species  of  fossils,  of 
which  seven  species  were  those  of  flying  lizards,  or 
Pterodactyles  ;  six  species  were  those  of  huge  sau- 
rians ;  three  were  tortoises  ;  sixty  species  were  fish, 
forty-six  were  crustaceans;  and  twenty-six  were 
insects,  which  had  probably  been  blown  from  the 
land  by  the  breezes,  and  eventually  found  a  watery 
grave  and  an  immortality  they  never  dreamt  of. 

I  have  already  spoken  a  little  of  the  peculiar  vege- 
tation of  this  period— of  the  Cycads  and  Zamias  and 
Tree  Perns,  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  Cala- 
mites,  Sigillaria,  and  Lepidodendra  of  the  Carbo- 
niferous epoch.  Besides  these,  there  flourished 
other  plants,  now  regarded  as  characteristically 
Australian,  of  which  the  Araucarian  pines  are  ex- 
amples ;  several  species  are  found  in  the  Inferior 
Oolite,  whose  cones  showed  that  they  lived  and 
flourished  not  far  distant.  Then,  again,  in  the  so- 
called  "  dirt-beds  "  of  the  Portland  stone,  and  also 
of  the  Purbeck  beds,  you  have  evidences  not  only 
of  old  land  surfaces,  but  also  of  the  dense  vegeta- 
tion which  covered  them.  These  "dirt-beds" 
plainly  indicate  the  extended  period  duriug  which 
these  old  cycadian  and  pine  forests  grew.  Their 
3:emains  are  now  found  silicified,  their  trunks  and 


stems  lying  recumbent  amid  the  "  dirt,"  whose  fresh- 
water shells  tell  you  how  it  had  been'  the  shallow 
bottom  of  a  lake  before  it  was  a  forest-bed,  and  that 
it  was  there  its  rich  black  soil  accumulated !  The 
Cycads  are  flattened  somewhat  by  the  pressure  of 
the  overlying  beds,  so  that  their  bracts  or  scales 
give  them  a  peculiar  appearance,  which,  I  am  told, 
has  earned  for  them  among  the  quarry  men  the  name 
of  "Birds' Nests." 

As  you  are  perhaps  aware,  the  sea  was  still  the 
home  of  the  great  fish-lizards,  Ichthyosaicrus,  Plesio- 
saurus,  &c.  On  the  dry  land  the  reptile  family  was 
represented  by  an  abundant  group,  which  goes  under 
the  general  name  of  Dinosauria,  or  "  terrible  rep- 
tiles." Judging  by  the  size  of  some  of  them,  this 
name  was  not  badly  earned.  But  by  far  the  most 
characteristic  feature  about  these  huge  land  reptiles 
was  their  near  anatomical  relationship  to  the  birds  ! 
You  hear  a  good  deal  of  foolish  talk  now  about 
"missing  links,"  and  those  who  make  use  of  it  little 
know  that  all  the  fossils  are,  more  or  less,  of  this 
nature,  and  fill  up  gaps  in  the  natural  history  classi- 
fication. Some  of  the  reptiles  of  which  I  am  speak- 
ing walked  on  two  legs,  like  great  Cochin  China 
fowl,  and  with  their  hind  quarters  much  more 
strongly  developed  than  their  fore  limbs.  In  this 
respect  they  resembled,  amongst  the  reptilia,  the 
position  of  the  kangaroo,  which,  as  everybody  knows, 
generally  uses  only  his  huge  hind  legs,  his  fore  limbs 
being  much  smaller  and  weaker.  One  of  these  land 
reptiles,  named  Compsognatlms,  whose  remains  have 
been  found  in  the  Stonesfield  slate,  and  which  was 
only  about  two  or  three  feet  in  length,  is  the  nearest 
approach,  in  its  general  structure,  to  birds  of  any 
yet  made  known.  As  you  are  aware,  all  reptiles  are 
egg-bearing  in  their  habits,  and  the  fossd  eggs  of 
the  oolitic  reptiles  have  been  met  with,  showing  that, 
so  long  ago  as  the  Oolitic  age,  this  class  had  the  same 
habits  as  their  diminutive  representatives  of  the 
present  day.  But  what  is  very  remarkable  is,  that 
whilst  the  reptiles  of  this  period  had  bird-like  cha- 
racters, some  of  the  birds  had  reptilian  peculiarities  ! 
No  doubt  you  are  aware  that  these  two  great  groups 
of  animals,  birds  and  reptiles,  follow  each  other  in 
ordinary  classification.  They  do  so  in  order  of  time, 
the  reptiles  first,  in  their  lowest  grade  as  Amphibia 
(Labyrintliodonts),  which  gradually  rise  to  a  higher 
standard,  until  they  assume  features  which,  as  I 
above  remarked,  now  belong  wholly  to  birds.  Singu- 
larly enough,  the  true  birds  follow  soon  after,  and 
the  first  specimen  you  meet  with  shows,  in  the 
structure  of  its  tail-bones,  &c,  that  it  had  borrowed 
some  of  the  anatomical  peculiarities  of  the  reptiles  ! 
This  strange  bird  is  now  known  as  the  Arcliatopteryx, 
and  its  bones,  and  even  feathers,  have  been  found 
beautifully  preserved  in  the  Solenhofen  stone.  Here 
you  have,  at  any  rate,  a  meeting-ground  on  which 
two  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom 
exhibit  their  mutual  descent.     It  is  a  suggestive 

L  2 


220 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


fact  for  those  of  my  hearers  who  are  sceptical  about 


missing 


links ! 


The  ages  which  have  passed  away  since  these 
things  occurred  are  bewildering  to  those  who  are 
anxious  to  know,  in  so  many  years,  how  old  the 
world  is,  as  if  that  fact  would  add  anything  material 
to  their  real  knowledge.  At  the  time  of  which  I  am 
speaking  the  area  occupied  by  the  Himalaya  moun- 
tains was  a  deep  sea-bottom :  that  great  mass  has 
been  slowly  elevated  to  its  present  great  height 
since  the  era  of  my  birth.  The  Jura  Alps  were  in 
the  same  condition,  and  have  undergone  similar  ele- 
vation. One  generation  of  animals  and  plants  after 
another  has  passed  away  from  the  earth,  having 
been  slowly  pushed  out  of  existence  by  newly-intro- 
duced species,  better  fitted  to  the  alterations  effected 
through  the  changes  in  physical  geography.  The 
whole  of  the  oolitic  strata  of  soft  sands,  oozy  lime, 
and  dark  mud,  as  well  as  the  beds  of  loose  fresh- 
water shells,  have  undergone  chemical  action  and 
change,  and  been  transformed  into  sandstones,  lime- 
stones, shales,  and  Purbeck  marbles.  Our  family 
has  been  in  past  times,  and  is  now,  a  favourite  with 
man  in  his  endeavour  to  express  his  religious  con- 
victions and  sesthetical  feelings.  We  form  the  stone- 
work of  his  grand  churches  and  cathedrals,  and 
I  myself  had  the  honoured  position  of  forming 
part  of  his  altar,  his  christening-font,  or  his  grave- 
slab  !  The  tread  of  many  generations  of  men  has 
not  effaced  my  lacustrine  origin.  Dynasties  and  re- 
ligions have  passed  away,  and  been  replaced  by 
others  breathing  a  more  Christian  and  liberal  spirit, 
just  as  the  oolitic  animals  were  replaced  by  those  of 
a  higher  organization ;  but  I  still  form  part  of  these 
grand  structures,  silently  testifying  to  the  endu- 
rability  of  nature  over  art,  and  yet  myself  a  testimony 
that  Nature  herself  is  full  of  changes,  and  restlessly 
advances  to  a  more  perfect  condition  ! 


A  SPRING  MORNING  AT  THE  SEASIDE. 

"IX7E  have  chosen  a  quiet  little  spot  on  the  south- 
*  *  east  coast  of  England  as  the  place  where  we 
intend  to  pass  a  morning  at  the  shore ;  it  is  situated 
on  the  summit  of  a  hill,  from  which  a  lane  leads  to 
the  sea. 

We  are  up  betimes  the  morning  following  our 
arrival,  and  as  we  enter  the  street,  a  most  fragrant 
air  greets  us.  It  is  indeed  a  lovely  morning  ;  the 
sky  is  remarkably  clear,  and  the  sun  very  dazzling. 
The  villagers  are  astir,  and  from  the  various  shops 
and  houses  come  the  sounds  of  toil.  Let  us  take 
the  road  to  the  sea. 

The  view  is  very  beautiful.  To  our  right  is 
Bcachy  Head  in  the  distance,  with  the  white  chalk 
near  its  point  very  plainly  visible,  as  is  also  every 
roadway  upon  it.  Eastbourne,  a  distance  of  some 
twelve  miles,  is  also  distinctly  seen,  and  Pevensey 
Bay  appears  as  a  strip  of  sea  of  a  sky-blue  colour 


running  inland 


we  are  able  to  trace  the  bend  of 
the  bay,  as  also  to  count  every  martello  tower  on 
the  coast  as  far  as  Eastbourne.  The  undulations 
and  hollows  in  the  headland  are  very  noticeable 
(from  the  shadows),  and  a  few  light  straw-coloured 
cirrhus  clouds  are  hanging  over  it. 

We  now  come  to  the  view  more  immediately  in 
front  of  us  ;  a  little  to  our  right  and  on  the  coast 
is  the  Coastguard  Station,  with  its  little  white 
houses  and  flagstaff  glittering  in  the  sun.  We  pass 
over  the  bridge  of  the  London,  Brighton,  and  South- 
Coast  Railway ;  a  few  yellowish-coloured  lichens 
line  the  red  bricks  of  which  it  is  built,  and,  darting 
about,  are  numerous  tiger  spiders  (Salticus  scenicus), 
evidently  enjoying  the  sun's  rays. 

Immediately  in  front  of  us  the  lane  winds  down 
to  the  sea,  which  is  stretched  out  before  us,  of  a 
light  greenish-blue  colour,  and  streaked  with  long 
stripes  of  greyish  blue.  At  the  bend  of  the  lane 
and  at  the  side  is  a  fisherman's  black  hut,  standing 
out  in  bold  relief  against  the  sea.  A  fisherman 
passes,  and  gives  us  an  Echinus,  which  he  says  he 
has  had  in  his  hat  for  two  hours  ;  consequently  we 
have  not  much  faith  in  its  being  alive.  A  little 
further  on,  we  hear  a  curious  rustling  in  the  bank  of 
the  road,  composed  of  ivy,  brambles,  dried  leaves, 
twigs,  and  grass.  We  stop  to  listen ;  after  a  mo- 
ment or  two  it  is  repeated,  and  stooping  gently,  and 
looking  in  the  direction  whence  the  noise  proceeded, 
we  discover  that  it  is  caused  by  little  land-lizards 
{Zootoca  vivipard),  which  are  darting  about  jerkily 
amongst  the  sticks  and  dried  leaves ;  we  try  to 
catch  them,  but  they  disappear  in  an  instant.  Here, 
on  the  bank,  grows  the  sweet  violet  {Viola  odorata), 
on  the  leaves  of  which  some  large  beetles  (Meloe 
proscarabams)  are  feeding  greedily,  each  downward 
movement  of  their  heads  or  jaws  making  the  semi- 
circular gap,  already  large,  greater  in  the  leaf. 

Still  following  the  bend  of  the  road,  we  pass  the 
black  cottage,  with  its  old-fashioned  latticed  win- 
dows and  red-tiled  roof ;  another  turn  takes  us  in 
sight  of  a  raised  beach,  which  nowr  hides  the  sea 
from  us,  and  we  hear  its  dull  plashing.  We  mount 
this  beach  rapidly,  in  excited  anticipation  of  the  first 
view  of  the  rocks.  We  gain  the  top,  where  one  or  two 
boats  are  lying,  and  arc  now  (for  it  is  low  water)  in 
sight  of  the  rocks,  from  which  a  delicious  odour  of 
seaweed  is  wafted  to  us  ;  we  take  in  a  full  breath, 
for  we  are  loth  to  lose  such  pure  air,  and  stand 
surveying  the  scene. 

To  our  left  lies  a  long  strip  of  blackish-looking 
rocks,  raised  several  feet  above  the  sand,  which 
extends  beyond  them  to  the  left,  and  stretching  out 
to  the  sea  like  a  headland.  Let  us  walk  upon  these 
rocks  and  explore  them. 

The  first  rocks  which  we  step  upon  are  much 
hollowed  and  fretted  away,  and  their  surface  in 
some  places  resembles  iron  slag.  They  are  scantily 
covered  with  balani  (Bahinoides),  with  very  sparse 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


221 


and  small  tufts  of  Enteromorpha  (E.  compressa), 
and  thick  viscous  tufts  of  an  olive-brown  colour, 
looking  like  confervoid  algce,  but  which  we  find, 
on  examination  with  a  low  magnifying  power,  to  be 
diatoms  (Schizonema)  growing  in  a  gelatinous 
envelope.  Let  us  walk  on;  the  Enteromorpha 
becomes  thicker,  and  covers  the  mounds  of  the 
rocks  in  long  vivid  light-green  fringes. 

We  will  now  examine  our  first  rock-pool ;  it  is 
about  six  yards  distant  from  the  beach,  is  very 
shallow,  and  hardly  three  inches  at  its  greatest  depth; 
the  water  in  it  is  clear  as  crystal,  and  the  surface  is 
just  disturbed  by  the  faintest  ripple.  The  Ulva  and 
Enteromorpha  grow  from  every  part  of  the  bed  of 
the  rock-pool,  except  in  the  hollows,  where  there  is 
none.  Growing  between  these  seaweeds,  and  cover- 
ing the  bed  of  the  pool,  is  a  short  muddy-coloured 
filamentous-looking  substance.  On  magnifying  some 
of  this,  it  turns  out  to  be  diatoms  growing  in  long 
chains  (Grammatophora  marina).  The  margin  of 
the  pool,  which  is  very  rugged  in  outline,  is  partly 
fringed  with  Ulva  (U.  latissima),  whilst  on  the 
highest  and  most  exposed  portion  grows  the  Fucus 
(F.  vesiculosus),  the  fronds  of  which  hang  partly  in 
the  water,  and  are  partly  left  dry  ;  it  is  of  a  dark 
olive-colour,  except  at  the  tips,  or  rather  receptacles, 
which  are  much  lighter  in  tint. 

The  sides  of  the  pool  which  are  left  dry  are  com- 
posed of  the  substance  resembling  iron  slag  in  some 
parts  ;  in  .others  they  are  composed  of  tiny  rounded 
and  smooth  mounds,  close  together,  having  the 
appearance  of  iron.  They  are  covered  with  balani 
(Balanoides)  to  the  number  of  thousands.  Here  we 
have  an  immense  army;  but  each  individual  cirrhiped 
has  to  receive  its  daily  supply  of  food  from  the 
returning  sea. 

On  the  Ulva  in  the  pool  a  periwinkle  (Littorina 
littoralis)  is  lazily  crawling.  The  animal  life  therein 
seems  (with  the  exception  of  the  balani)  but  scanty, 
and  we  only  catch  sight  of  a  single  sandhopper 
(Talitrus) ;  but,  on  stooping,  and  examining  the 
pool  intently,  discover  one  of  the  minute  Entomos- 
traca  proceeding  through  the  water,  and,  skipping 
about  on  the  surface,  a  white  and  small  podura. 

The  rocks  in  the  vicinity  are  composed  of  a  grey- 
ish and  gravel-coloured  sand.  They  are  very  friable, 
and  are  arranged  in  mounds. 

Let  us  walk  on.  We  leave  the  mounds  of  sandy 
rock  to  our  left,  their  summits  covered  with  the 
long  tufts  of  the  Enteromorpha,  looking  lovely  in 
the  sun's  light ;  and,  as  we  proceed,  notice  that  the 
Eucus  gets  much  thicker,  and  nearly  covers  every 
prominence.  In  some  places  the  fronds  are  much 
broader.  Here  and  there  in  pools  are  mussels, 
studded  with  young  balani,.  which  are  hardly  the 
l-32ud  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  We  take  up  one  of 
these  mussels  and  examine  it.  It  is  covered  with 
young  balani  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  shell 
exposed  to  the  light,  whilst  on  the  under  half,  or 


that  portion  upon  which  the  mussel  is  lying,  there 
are  none. 

Let  us  walk  forward  (we  have  taken  but  eight 
strides  from  our  first  rock-pool).  The  Fucus  (vesi- 
culosus), which  at  our  first  pool  was  about  three  to 
four  inches  long,  is  now  in  some  places  fully  sixteen 
inches  in  length.  This  Fucus  grows  in  a  straight 
and  narrow  stem  (of  the  length  of  six  inches)  from 
the  rock.  It  then  divides  into  three  bunches  of 
fronds,  each  composed  of  two  flat  branches,  which 
again  are  bifurcate,  and  terminate  in  the  recep- 
tacles. 

The  Ulva  latissima  is  now  growing  together 
with  the  Fucus,  on  which  a  good  many  periwinkles 
are  crawling.  At  twenty-four  yards  from  the  beach 
we  find  our  first  tuft  of  the  seaweed  Polysiphonia , 
of  a  lovely  purple  hue,  growing  in  a  shallow  pool  of 
three  inches  in  depth,  and  in  a  position  facing  the 
east.  Some  Ulva  is  growing  from  the  Polysiphonia, 
the  tuft  of  which  is  nearly  dry  at  the  place  of  its 
attachment  to  the  rock,  whilst  the  ends  thereof 
hang  freely  in  the  water.  Sprawling  over  the 
branches  of  the  Polysiphonia  in  a  very  slow  and 
listless  manner,  are  several  of  those  queer-looking 
objects,  the  Pycnogons  (Nymphon  gracile).  We 
move  the  tuft  very  gently.  As  we  do  so,  numerous 
sandhoppers  and  small  Crustacea  start  from  it,  and 
immediately  underneath  it  is  revealed  to  us  a 
mussel  {Mytilus  edulis),  his  beautiful  gills  stretched 
to  their  fullest  extent,  and  we  may  presume  he  is 
now  actively  engaged  in  taking  in  his  morning  meal. 
Immediately  under  the  mussel,  and  partially  im- 
bedded in  the  deposit,  is  a  small  oyster-shell,  of 
which  we  get  a  lateral  view.  On  its  upper  edge  is 
an  anemone  {Actinia  chiococca),  whilst  on  its  under 
surface,  and  seen  in  profile,  are  full-grown  balani 
(Balanoides),  whose  cirrhi,  we  can  see,  are  working 
rapidly. 

At  forty  yards  from  the  shore  we  find  some  very 
fine  purple  tufts  of  Polysiphonia,  growing  on  both 
the  east  and  west  side  of  the  pool.  Resting  on  its 
branches,  and  motionless,  is  the  crustacean  Idotea 
tricuspidata.  We  have  here  also  a  very  thick  and 
bushy  mass  of  olive-coloured  alga,  having  the 
character  of  conferva,  which  looks,  at  first  sight, 
very  much  like  Schizonema.  It  is  growing  from  the 
flat  frond  of  a  piece  of  fucus  in  the  water.  We 
place  a  small  tuft  of  the  Polysiphonia  in  our  zoo- 
phyte-trough, and  magnify  it  with  our  half-inch 
objective.  Its  branches  are  crowded  with  diatoms,, 
and  some  large  orange-coloured  rotifers  are 'gliding 
about.  To  the  naked  eye  they  appear  about  the 
1-2-lth  of  an  inch  in  length. 

At  an  estimated  distance  of  one  hundred  yards 
from  the  shore  we  find  rocklimpits  (Patella  vulgata) 
and  the  zoophyte  Sertularia  geniculata  growing 
from  a  frond  of  fucus.  The  mussels  are  now  very 
numerous,  and  close  together  in  the  gulleys  between 
the  rocks,  and  are  affixed  by  their  byssus  to  the 


222 


HARBWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


sand  and  mud  which  has  washed  in  by  the  tide.  By 
detaching  some  of  these  mussels  and  examining 
their  muddy  bed,  we  find  numerous  specimens  of 
the  graceful  little  starfish  Ophiura.  The  rocks  here 
are  still  composed  of  a  sandy  substance,  and  on 
which  (rocks  left  dry  by  the  tide.)  we  find  a  bunch 
of  fucus,  which  is  nearly  entirely  covered  with  the 
cells  of  that  large  and  handsome  member  of  the 
marine  polyzoa,  Malodactylus ;  and  we  think 
what  a  grand  sight  it  would  be  if  we  could 
see  all  the  polypes  expanded  with  the  binocular 
microscope,  and  with  a  dark  ground  illumination. 
We  notice  here  also,  in  a  shallow  pool,  the  arbores- 
cent structure  crowning  the  tube  of  the  marine 
annelid  Terebella,  just  protruding  from  the  sand, 
and,  crawling  on  the  adjacent  fucus,  the  little 
orange-coloured  winkle  (Littorina  Uttored).  On  the 
side  of  a  rock-pool  not  far  removed,  and  growing  iu 
an  eastern  aspect,  we  find  very  young  tufts  of  the 
delicate  feather-like  seaweed  Bryopsis  plumosa,  and 
on  the  same  side  there  is  a  perfect  miniature  forest 
of  the  zoophyte  Campanularia  geuiculata. 

We  introduce  a  small  fragment  of  rock  covered 
with  Campanularia  into  our  zoophyte-trough.  These 
zoophytes  really  look  lovely.  Imagine  a  tree-like 
structure,  of  crystalline  transparency.  At  the  sum- 
mit of  each  brauchlet  is  a  sort  of  cup,  exquisitely 
hyaline.  This  cup  contains  the  body  and  mouth  of 
the  polype,  the  latter  situate  in  the  centre,  and 
surrounded  with  numerous  diverging  tentacula,  of 
equal  length  and  at  equal  distances  from  each  other, 
falling  in  graceful  curves  over  this  cup.  The  mouth 
and  tentacula  can  be  both  protruded  and  retracted 
at  the  will  of  the  polype.  The  latter  are  highly 
sensitive,  for  we  notice,  whilst  observing  them  in 
the  trough,  that  a  small  grain  of  sand  falls  upon  one 
of  them.  It  immediately  bends  upwards,  as  if  to 
clutch  the  same.  The  mouths  of  most  of  the 
polypes  are  inflated,  and  protrude  from  the  cups. 

The  life  of  the  polype  is  seen  to  extend  through 
all  the  branches.  The  polypes  themselves  are  equal 
in  beauty  to  the  most  exquisite  flowers. 

Not  far  from  the  pool  containing  the  zoophytes, 
and  in  another  of  three  feet  in  depth,  we  find  the 
long  fronds  of  the  seaweed  Laminaria  saccharina. 

We  now  (at  150  to  200  yards  in  a  direct  line  from 
the  shore)  arrive  at  some  rocks  which  have  a  differ- 
ent aspect.  They  are  completely  covered  with  balani 
(Balanoidcs),  in  all  stages  of  growth,  from  the  tiny 
young  balanus  of  hardly  the  1-S2nd  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  to  the  full-grown  individual.  Not  a  frag- 
ment of  fucus  grows  upon  these  rocks.  To  reach 
them  we  have  to  cross  a  wide  gully,  in  which  the 
mussels  are  lying  so  closely  together  that  we  can- 
not introduce  the  chisel  to  separate  them.  In  this 
gully  wc  find  three  huge  specimens  of  the  common 
starfish  ( JJ raster  rubens), — one  of  a  dull  vermilion, 
inclining  to  orange ;  the  next  of  a  straw-colour,  and 
the  last   a  variety  (violacea)  which  measures  at 


least  eight  inches  from  tip  of  one  ray  to  that  of  the 
opposite  one.  Its  colour  is  a  splendid  reddish 
violet. 

As  we  walk  on  to  these  rocks  our  footsteps  cause 
a  loud  hissing  sound,  which  is  continued  into  the 
distance :  it  is  caused  by  the  crowds  of  balani, 
which  are  shutting  up  closely,  probably  disturbed 
by  the  vibrations  given  to  the  rocks  by  our  approach. 
Lots  of  white  and  yellow  purpuras  (Purpura  lapillus) 
are  crawling  about  here,  and  their  eggs  are  rather 
plentifully  distributed.  We  detach  a  group  of  the 
latter ;  the  majority  are  of  a  very  pale  yellow  colour, 
but  one  or  two  (probably  those  which  are  most  de- 
veloped) are  purple.  Here  we  have  also  the  white 
sea-slug  (Boris  tuberculata) ;  of  zoophytes,  the 
large  Tealia  crassicornis,  strawberry  anemones 
(Mesembryanthemum),  Coryne  pusilla,  Sertularia 
geuiculata,  growing  from  the  rock ;  of  polyzoa,  the 
yellowish  spiral  masses  of  the  birdshead  polype 
(Bugula  avicularia)  and  Boicerbanlcia  imbricata;  of 
seaweeds  we  have  small  jtufts  of  Bryopsis  plumosa. 
In  one  pool  there  is  quite  a  collection  of  various 
moving  shells ;  they  are  tenanted  by  hermit  crabs 
(Pagurus  Bemhardus).  By  turning  over  some  large 
flat  stones,  we  find  the  handsome  little  crab  Porcel- 
lana  platycheles. 

These  rocks  are  raised  above  the  sand  (which 
lies  on  the  left)  to  the  height  of  four  feet ;  there 
are  numerous  little  pools  in  them  like  craterlets. 
It  is  .very  convenient,  whilst  standing  in  a  gully, 
to  bend  over  and  peep  into  these.  One  of  them,  of 
a  foot  in  diameter,  is  covered  with  the  zoophyte 
Campanularia  geniculata :  even  the  shells  of  some 
limpets  which  are  crawling  therein  are  covered. 

We  are  closely  scrutinizing  one  of  these  little 
pools  when  we  hear,  to  our  regret,  the  plash  of  the 
returning  sea.  We  therefore  leap  hastily  from 
these  rocks  to  the  sand,  and  retrace  our  steps, 
determined,  however,  on  the  way  back  to  examine 
some  of  the  overhanging  ledges  of  rock  which  we 
pass.  After  getting  our  bodies  into  the  most  awk- 
ward positions,  and  our  heads  into  those  promoting 
considerable  congestion,  our  search  is  at  length 
rewarded  by  finding  the  fleshy-looking  masses  of 
the  splendid  zoophytes  Tubularia  indivisa,  from  the 
heads  of  which  there  is  a  constant  trickling  of  sea- 
water,  as  it  percolates  through  the  ledge  under 
which  they  are  situate.  Side  by  side  are  the  mud- 
coloured  bunches  of  the  polyzoa  Anguinella  palmala. 
Situate  between  some  of  these  bunches,  and  pro- 
jecting, are  the  tubes  of  the  annelids  Sabellte, 
from  which  the  closed  plumes  of  the  worms  (of  a 
reddish  colour)  just  protrude.  A  little  nearer  to 
the  shore,  and  just  peeping  out  of  his  short  sym- 
metrical tube  (composed  of  tiny  grains  of  sand 
cemented  together),  which  is  half  buried  in  the 
sand,  wc  find  the  annelid  Pectenaria,  the  comb-like 
appendages  to  his  head  shining  like  gold  ;  we  drop 
him  into  our  vasculum  and  walk  on.    Near  to  the 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSI  P. 


22: 


shore,  the  rock  to  our  left  is  covered  with  long 
fronds  of  ulva,  which  looks  very  fresh  as  it  hangs 
down,  and  the  seawater  trickles  from  it  and  drops 
on  the  sand  beneath. 

We  soon  reach  the  beach  again,  and  toil  our  way 
back ;  for  we  are  a  little  fatigued,  from  stooping 
and  kneeling  over  rock-pools.  We  think  of  our 
vasculum,  however,  which  is  full  of  marine  trea- 
sures, and  are  content.  We  also  look  forward  to 
the  pleasure  of  sorting  them  and  examining  them 
with  the  microscope,  and  of  transferring  them  to 
our  marine  aquarium  in  town,  where,  if  we  have 
not  the  glittering,  cheerful  view  and  bright  atmo- 
sphere which  we  have  just  left,  we  have,  at  least, 
the  consolation  of  being  able  to  study  some  of  our 
pets,  and  the  chance  of  keeping  some  of  them  in 
health. 

The  morning  is  now  somewhat  far  advanced,  and 
the  sun  begins  to  have  great  power.  On  the  cliff 
at  the  entrance  of  the  lane  are  numerous  Tiger 
beetles  {Cicindela  campestris) ;  they  are  very  shy, 
and  the  moment  our  shadows  cross  them,  fly  away. 
They  have  a  peculiar  manner  of  running  a  short 
distance,  and  then  stopping  suddenly,  with  head 
erect,  as  if  listening.  They  are  also  rather  quarrel- 
some ;  for  we  saw  one  alight  near  its  fellow  and 
chase  it  away,  much  in  the  same  manner  as  spar- 
rows when  they  have  secured  some  morsel  of  food 
which  they  wish  to  keep  to  themselves.  The  jaws 
of  these  beetles  are  certainly  most  formidable. 

We  walk  back  to  the  village,  our  minds  yet 
filled  with  beautiful  visions  of  rock-pools  smiling  in 
the  sun's  light.  Perhaps  these  may  be  redeveloped 
in  us,  when  in  the  gloomy  winter  of  the  metropolis, 
with  great  force,  and  tthen  we  may  hear  again  the 
plash  of  the  sea,  and  enjoy  in  imagination  the 
beautiful  calm  of  a  spring  morning  at  the  seaside. 

0.  M. 


A  STREET  DOG. 

THERE  is  a  narrow  Westminster  street,  with 
little  shops  and  lodging-houses  on  either  side 
of  it.  It  is  a  dirty,  noisy  little  street,  and  gives 
access  to  a  broader,  quieter  one,  with  better  houses, 
whose  faces  look  out  into  the  Park  and  its  green 
elm-trees.  Troops  of  children  from  the  little  street 
play  and  shout  in  and  ring  the  door-bells  of  the 
great  one.  Erom  the  windows  of  one  of  those 
houses  I  have  watched  the  games  of  the  children, 
and  observed  them  to  be  generally  shared  by  an 
ugly,  smooth  white  dog,  with  a.  sharp  nose  and  a  few 
black  spots.  When  an  organ-man  came  to  play,  the 
children  danced  with  the  dog,  holding  his  unresist- 
ing forepaws.  If  a  woman  from  the  little  street 
came  through  with  her  basket  on  her  way  to  market, 
off  started  the  dog  with  barks  and  leaps  of  joy,  to 
accompany  her  as  her  guard  and  companion,  and 


returned  with  her  when  business  was  over.  We 
never  could  make  out  whom  the  dog  belonged  to. 
We  met  him  sometimes  with  one  person,  sometimes 
with  another.  All  the  children  loved  him,  and  the 
grown  people  seemed  to  have  a  friend  and  posses- 
sion in  him.  His  name  we  found  to  be  "Spot;" 
and  one  day  we  found  out  poor  Spot's  private  his- 
tory. In  the  little  street  was  a  very  small  sweet- 
shop, much  favoured  by  the  children  of  our  family, 
amongst  whom  it  went  by  the  name  of  "  The  Little 
Woman's."  The  little  woman  sold  haberdashery  and 
illustrated  papers,  besides  her  sweets,  and  during  his 
leisure  hours  Spot  was  often  to  be  found  sitting  bolt 
upright  on  her  door-step.  We  used  to  stroke  his 
head  as  we  passed  him,  but  he  would  scarcely  care 
to  recognize  us.  His  mind  was  fully  occupied  with 
his  own  friends,  and  kind  friends  they  seem  to  have 
been.  First  of  all,  however,  came  a  tragedy.  Some 
cruel  person  half  hung  the  poor  clog,  and  cut  his  throat. 
A  kind  woman  and  her  daughter,  living  in  the  street, 
took  the  dog  in,  sewed  up  his  throat,  nursed  him  care- 
fully, and  restored  him  to  health.  This  seems  to  have 
been  the  commencement  of  his  career  as  the  street 
dog ;  but,  instead  of  his  being  homeless,  the  street 
itself  owned  him  and  became  his  home.  He  slept  at 
the  little  sweet-shop  woman's,  and  every  day  she 
bought  a  piece  of  meat  of  the  cat's-meat  man,  so 
that  Spot  was  sure  of  one  meal.  I  have  offered  him 
a  bit  of  biscuit  sometimes  when  I  met  him,  but  he 
did  not  seem  to  care  about  eating  it ;  so  I  think  he 
was  well  fed.  The  two  streets  harboured  no  other 
dogs,  for  Spot  would  come  tearing  down  the  whole 
length  of  them,  and  clear  out  any  strange  dog  who 
ventured  to  loiter  there.  For  years  he  has  been  a 
loved  and  valued  street  dog.  Every  one  seemed  to 
speak  kindly  to  him ;  and  I  have  met  him  long  dis  - 
tances  from  home,  following  various  masters  and 
mistresses.  He  always  looked  business-like  and 
decided.  At  length  came  the  new  rule  about  the 
dog-licenses.  Of  course,  no  one  had  ever  paid  a 
tax  for  Spot — no  one  need  claim  to  be  his  real 
master ;  but  the  "  little  woman  "  thought  differently 
about  the  license.  As  a  street  dog— an  ordinary, 
vulgar  street  dog — poor  Spot  might  have  become 
the  prey  of  the  police ;  so  this  good  woman  went  the 
round  of  the  other  little  houses  and  shops,  and 
collected  a  little  every  here  and  there  from  Spot's 
kind  friends,  until  she  had  enough  to  pay  the 
license.  So  the  street  keeps  its  own  dog  with  its 
own  license.  I  have  left  the  neighbourhood  now  ; 
but  whenever  I  have  lately  chanced  to  pass  the 
little  street,  I  have  seen  the  familiar  ugly  form  of 
Spot  sitting  serenely  amid  a  group  of  children. 

Y.  S.  W. 


Rich  Men. — He  is  the  richest  man  who  knows 
how  to  draw  a  benefit  from  the  labours  of  the 
greatest  number  of  men. — Emerson. 


224 


HARDWICKE'S    SCI  EN  CE-  GOSSIP. 


THE  Y-SHAPED  ORGAN  OF  PAPILIO 
LARV^l. 

MR.  CLIFEORD,  in  his  interesting  notes  on 
Homed  Caterpillars  (p.  193),  cites  the  state- 
ment of  Bonnet,  "  that  a  caterpillar  of  Machaon, 
•which  he  touched,  directed  the  horn  towards  the 
lingers,  as  if  to  strike."  He  adds,  "Other  observers 
have  not  as  yet  confirmed  this."  Permit  me  to 
confirm  it  by  a  collateral  observation. 

Erom  an  Entomological  journal  which  I  kept  in 
Newfoundland,  in  the  year  1S35, 1  extract  the  fol- 
lowing notes  on  the  larva  of  Papilio  Asterius,  a 
species  closely  allied  to  our  Machaon.  "From  the 
very  first  ring  of  the  body,  just  at  the  back  of  the 
head,  there  proceeds  a  soft,  flexible,  forked  organ, 
of  an  orange  colour.  I  have  seen  it  protruded  to 
the  length  of  three-quarters  of  an  inch.  At  about 
one-eighth  of  an  inch  from  the  base  it  divides  into 
two  branches,  each  curving  outwards,  and  tapering 
to  a  blunt  point.  This  organ  is  usually  drawn  in, 
and  quite  concealed  within  the  neck ;  and  the  cater- 
pillar protrudes  one  branch  or  both,  at  pleasure.  I 
have  watched  the  parts  at  such  times,  and  have 
observed  that  two  transverse  lips  appear  to  open  in 
the  neck,  and  the  fork  is  thrust  out,  not  the  points 
first,  but  the  base  ;  the  whole  structure  being  turned 
inside-out.  I  am  convinced  that  its  use,  or  at  least 
one  of  its  uses,  is  as  an  instrument  of  defence ;  lor, 
on  my  touching  the  side  of  the  caterpillar — the  left 
side,  for  instance— it  would  jerk  round  its  head 
towards  the  place,  and  protrude  the  left  division  or 
branch  of  the  Y  ;  on  my  touching  the  right  side,  it 
would  thrust  out  the  right  branch,  keeping  the 
other  in.  The  operation  was  always  accompanied 
by  a  strong  foetor,  like  the  odour  of  parsnip — the 
plant  on  which  the  larva  feeds ;  it  left  a  slight 
wetness  on  any  object  touched.  Often,  when  I 
suddenly  opened  the  box  in  which  I  was  rearing 
these  caterpillars,  they  would  thrust  out  both 
branches  of  their  Y-organ,  with  a  gush  of  the 
odour ;  and  then,  in  a  few  seconds,  gradually  draw 
them  back  by  involution." 

The  larva  of  Papilio  Turnus,  a  companion  species 
to  the  one  I  have  just  named,  throughout  the 
Atlantic  regions  of  North  America,  from  New- 
foundland to  Alabama,  possesses  an  organ  of 
exactly  similar  structure,  and  uses  it  in  an  exactly 
similar  way.  So  does  that  of  P.  Philenor,  a  beau- 
tiful species,  of  the  Southern  States.  Of  all  these  1 
speak  from  personal  observation ;  but  I  have  little 
doubt  that  the  organ  is  common  to  the  entire  genus 
of  Papilio  as  restricted. 

Doubleday,  in  his  beautiful  work,  "  The  Genera 
of  Diurnal  Lepidoptera,"  limits  his  notice  of  the 
organ  to  the  technical  diagnosis  of  the  family 
Papilionida,  and  those  of  the  two  genera,  Omitho- 
ptera  and  Papilio.    In  the  former  he  says,  "  The 


larvae  arc  furnished  with  two  retractile  tentacula  on 
the  prothoracic  segment,  which  are  extended  when 
the  animal  is  irritated,  and  then  exhale  an  aromatic, 
but  mostly  disagreeable,  odour."  In  the  diagnosis 
of  Papilio  he  merely  defines  the  tentacula  as 
"  without  any  external  sheath,"  thus  distinguishing 
the  genus  from  Ornithoptera.  Taking  no  notice  of 
the  familiar  European  and  North  American  species, 
he  singles  out  the  rare  P.  Ilippason  of  Guiana,  of 
which  he  says,  "If  we  can  trust  to  Stoll's  figure,, 
the  prothoracic  tentacula  or  osmateria  are  largely 
developed." 

I  am  not  without  hope,  therefore,  that  these  little 
notes  of  mine,  which  have  lain  for  six-and-thirty 
years  within  the  leaves  of  my  portfolio,  may  con- 
tain a  contribution,  even  though  trifling,  to 
knowledge. 

Torquay.  P.  H.  Gosse,  F.R.S. 


MONOTREMATA. 

CERTAIN  four-footed  beasts  which  were  at  one 
time  ranked  among  the  Edentates,  or  toothless 
animals,  are  now — for  good  and  sufficient  reasons, 
founded  on  structural  peculiarities— included  in  a 
separate  order  under  the  above  name.  Among  them 
is  the  Australian  Hedgehog  (Echidna),  which  is 
furnished  with  a  coat  consisting  entirely  of  stiff 
bristles.  Its  affinity  with  the  European  Hedgehog 
is  of  the  most  superficial  kind.  Without  going  into 
anatomical  details,  it  may  be  mentioned,  that 
whereas  the  Hedgehog  is  furnished  with  a  mouth- 
ful of  sharp  teeth,  Echidna  can  boast  only  of  a  fewr 
hard  points  in  the  back  of  the  jaw  as  the  sole 
representatives  of  those  very  useful  appendages. 
The  mouth  itself  is  prolonged  into  a  tubular  beak, 
which  is  equally  serviceable  in  its  way  ;  for  within 
this  beak  lies  concealed  a  long  tongue,  which  can  be 
protruded  three  or  four  inches  beyond  its  sheath, 
and  is  provided  with  glands  capable  of  secreting  a 
thick  viscid  fluid.  Termites,  ants,  and  "such 
small  deer"  form  the  food  of  Echidna:  these  it 
hunts  out  with  the  aid  of  its  long  snout,  which  is 
constantly  at  work  "  rummaging  "  in  the  debris  cf 
the  forest.  Backwards  and  forwards,  in  and  out, 
goes  that  pitiless  tongue,  each  time  clothed  with  a 
fresh  supply  of  glutinous  matter  from  the  glands 
at  its  root,  and  each  time  drawing  in  a  host  of 
victims  clinging  helplessly  to  its  sides  and  point- 
Of  necessity,  Echidna  takes  in  with  its  food  a  large 
amount  of  dirt,  stones,  and  fragments  of  wood ; 
indeed  sometimes  the  stomach  is  half  filled  with 
such  matters.  With  all  this,  it  possesses  wonderful 
powers  of  abstinence.  "  One  in  the  possession  of 
Messrs.  Quay  and  Gainard  refused  all  sustenance 
for  a  month  after  its  capture,  without  appearing  to 
suffer  in  its  general  health,  though  it  became 
thinner."— P.  H.  Gosse,  Intr.  to  Zool. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


225 


The  nearest  relative  of  the  Echidna  is  an  animal 
very  little  like  it  in  outward  aspect,  but  even  more 
remarkable  in  habit  aud  appearance.  This  is  the 
Water-mole  of  the  colonists,  and  the  Mallangong 
of  the  natives  of  Australia,  but  dubbed  by  Blumen- 
bach  with  the  lengthy  title  of  Ornithorhynchus 
paradoxus ;  aud  a  veritable  paradox  it  is,  with  its 
webbed  feet  and  duck's  bill.  It  is  a  shy,  harmless 
creature,  living  on  the  banks  of  ponds  and  rivers 
(in  South-eastern  Australia),  in  which  it  excavates 
long  galleries  ramifying  widely.  Its  food  consists 
mainly,  though  not  exclusively,  of  aquatic  insects, 
very  small  shellfish,  &c.  As  in  the  case  of  Echidna, 
the  contents  of  the  stomach  are  always  mingled 
with  foreign  matter,  such  as  mud  and  gravel, 
"  which  latter  may  be  required  to  aid  digestion." 
(Proc.  of  Zuol.  Soc,  i.  229.)  Like  the  ducks,  whose 
beak  they  bear,  the  Ornithorhynchi  obtain  the 
greater  part  of  their  food  by  routing  in  the  mud. 


Itcheu  Abbas. 


W.  W.  Spicer. 


THE  GOAT-MOTH. 

TN  the  autumn  of  the  year  1827  the  larvae  of  the 
-■-  Goat-moth  abounded  beyond  any  customary 
proportion,  aud  we  could  commonly  see  the  traces 
made  by  these  creatures  in  the  dust.  They  had 
apparently  fed  during  the  summer  in  the  earth,  and 
were  now  proceeding  in  search  of  a  retreat  during 
winter  to  some  old  hedgerow-tree,  a  part  to  repose, 
and  those  which  approached  maturity  to  abrade  the 
softer  wood,  and  form  their  cases  preparatory  to 
changing  to  a  final  perfect  state  in  the  spring.  At 
times  we  observed  them  coursing  along  our  paths 
with  great  strength  and  activity;  and  when  not 
seen,  that  peculiar  subtle  smell  which  proceeds 
from  them,  and  has  been  thought  to  resemble  that 
of  the  Goat,  was  perceptible  in  all  our  walks.  The 
object  and  seat  of  this  odour  seems  not  well  under- 
stood. Some  have  conjectured  it  to  proceed  from 
a  fluid  evacuated  from  the  mouth,  and  discharged  to 
soften  the  wood  in  which  they  burrow.  But  it 
seems  inconsistent  with  any  probability  that  this 
creature,  which  is  furnished  with  such  very  powerful 
mandibles,  should  be  gifted  with  an  auxiliary  aid  to 
accomplish  its  object,  while  of  the  many  insects 
which  perforate  timber,  most  of  them  with  inferior 
means,  no  other  possesses  an  equivalent  agent  to 
facilitate  its  labours ;  for  not  one  of  them,  so  far  as 
we  know,  is  so  supplied.  Besides,  if  such  were  the 
purpose,  the  discharge  would  be  made  only  when 
required,  and  thus  this  unpleasant  odour  would  not 
be  always  perceptible.  The  strength  of  their  jaws 
is  so  great  that  they  will  very  soon  destroy  any 
common  chip-box  in  which  the  animal  may  be  placed, 
by  abrading  the  edges  to  effect  its  escape.  With 
us  they  chiefly  inhabit  the  ash ;  and  we  very  com- 
monly see,  at  the  roots  of  our  aged  trees,  the  frag- 


ments removed  by  them  in  forming  their  passages. 
In  breaking  up  the  decayed  pollards,  we  not  un- 
usually And  the  grub  in  all  the  stages  of  its  growth  > 
but  more  generally  observe  them  without  inhabitants 
yet  perforated  with  paths  large  enough  to  admit  the 
finger.  I  suspect  that  these," auger  worms"  are 
the  primary  cause  of  the  decay  of  the  tree  ;  having 
often  observed  their  perforations,  aud  found  them 
both  large  and  small  in  the  solid  spur  or  root  of  the 
tree,  when  the  upper  portion,  having  been  bored  and 
in  a  state  of  decline,  is  abandoned  by  them.  Those 
that  are  full-fed  appear  to  form  their  cases  in  that 
part  which  has  lost  coherency,  while  the  younger 
and  imperfect  creatures  mine  their  way  and  obtain 
nutriment  in  the  solid  timber ;  thus  killing  the  tree 
by  inches,  when  rain  and  moisture  find  lodgment  and 
complete  the  dissolution.  One  year's  preparation 
is  the  period  usually  assigned  to  the  larva?  of  most 
insects  before  they  arrive  at  their  perfect  state  ;  but 
by  the  Goat-moth  three  years  are  required  before  it 
attains  its  winged  state  from  the  egg.  Consequently, 
for  the  larger  portion  of  its  life  it  is  occupied  in 
these  destructive  operations;  and  thus  this  creature 
becomes  a  very  powerful  agent  in  reducing  these 
Titans  of  the  vegetable  world,  crumbling  them  away 
to  their  original  dust. 

All  the  larva?  which  I  have  observed  in  the  colder 
portions  of  the  year  were  hard,  stiff,  and  torpid, 
but  soon  became  relaxed  and  animated  by  the 
warmth  of  the  hand.  Thus  they  probably  remain 
quiet  during  the  winter  months,  but  revive  in  spring, 
and  recommence  their  ravages  in  the  tree. 

The  caterpillar  of  this  moth  I  believe  to  be  the 
largest  of  any  of  the  British  Lepidoptera,  and 
when  full-fed  exceeds  in  size  that  of  the  Death's- 
head  Sphinx.  To  those  who  dislike  the  appearance 
of  things  of  this  nature  it  is  particularly  disgusting, 
not  only  from  its  magnitude  and  smell,  but  from  its 
colour,  which  is  a  lurid  red,  so  compounded  with  a 
dingy  yellow  as  to  give  it  a  lividness  of  look,  con- 
veying the  idea  of  something  raw.  Common  as  the 
grub  is  in  some  years,  I  have  seldom  been  able  to 
obtain  the  moth  without  the  often  tedious  process 
of  feeding  the  larvae  and  waiting  for  its  change. — 
Journal  of  a  Naturalist. 


NEW  BOOKS. 

Modern  Scepticism.*— Scepticism  is  one  of  the 
decided  tendencies  of  the  age,  not  theological 
scepticism  merely,  for  that  is  only  one  phase  of  the 
same  spirit,  but  universal  scepticism.  It  pervades 
all  ranks  of  life,  more  or  less ;  and  the  evidence  is 
very  strong  that  it  is  at  work  as  much  amongst 
theologians    themselves    as    outside    their    circle. 

*  "  Modern  Scepticism  :  a  Course  of  Lectures  delivered  at 
the  request  of  the  Christian  Evidence  Society."  London  : 
Hodder  &  Stoughton. 


226 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Theologians  will  not  deny  that  there  is  a  great  deal 
of  free  thinking,  and  despising  of  authority,  and 
other  manifestations  of  scepticism,  amongst  all 
sections  of  the  Church,  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
to  the  smallest  section  of  Dissenters.  With  all  this 
we  have  nothing  to  do.  It  has  always  been  our 
aim  not  to  meddle  with  things  beyond  our  province, 
but  the  present  volume  is  sent  to  us  and  we  notice 
it,  not  to  condemn  its  arguments,  support  its  facts, 
or  applaud  its  tendency.  Our  object  is  to  protest 
against  the  assumption  that  it  is  amongst  the 
students  of  science  that  scepticism  is  spreading,  or 
that  our  leading  men  of  science  are  high-priests  of 
scepticism.  This  is  evidently  the  feeling  of  many 
of  the  very  excellent  men  who  have  been  delivering 
these  lectures,  but  it  is  a  mistake.  It  may  be  true 
that  the  majority  of  scientific  men  pronounce  their 
"  shibboleth  "  in  some  other  than  the  orthodox  way, 
but  they  do  not  trouble  themselves  whether  one  or 
one  thousand  follow  their  example.  They  are  not 
propagandists  of  faith,  but  exponents  of  fact,  and  it 
is  a  mistake  to  attribute  to  their  influence  the 
scepticism  of  the  age,  from  which  clergy  are  no 
more  exempt  than  laity.  We  may  add  that  we 
have  perused  the  lectures  with  interest.  Those 
who  make  use  of  scientific  theories,  without  under- 
standing them,  as  a  cover  and  excuse  for  their  own 
scepticism,  will  hardly  take  the  trouble  to  read  this 
volume.  It  would  do  them  good.  As  for  the  rest 
Truth  is  great,  and  will  ultimately  prevail. 

Woolhoie  Transactions.*— The  annual  vo- 
lume of  these  excellent  Transactions  is  even  thicker 
than  its  three  predecessors,  and  fully  as  interesting, 
as  useful,  and  as  creditable  as  the  best.  The  photo- 
graphs 'of  remarkable  trees  are  'continued,  as  also 
are  Dr.  Bull's  papers  and  portraits  of  edible  fungi. 
We  dare  not  attempt  to  enter  upon  any  detailed 
account  of  the  contents  of  the  volume,  since  the 
bare  enumeration  would  fill  all  the  space  at  our  dis- 
posal for  this  brief  notice,  but  we  cannot  forbear 
the  expressiou  of  our  opinion  as  to  the  excellence 
of  the  work  done  by  this  club,  as  evidenced  by  these 
annual  volumes.  It  is  very  rare  that  a  local  society 
confines  itself  to  local  matters,  but  this  club  proves 
that  such  a  course  may  be  pursued,  with  satisfaction 
to  the  members  and  advantage  to  science.  These 
volumes  should  undoubtedly  be  found  in  every 
British  naturalist's  library. 

Handbook  of  British  EuNGi.f— We  cannot 
be  expected  to  pronounce  an  opinion  on  this  work, 
which  has  long  been  promised  and  is  now  completed 
and  delivered  to  subscribers.    All  we  desire  to  do 

*  "Transactions  of  the  Woolhope  Naturalist  Field  Club 
for  18/0."     Hereford,  1871. 

t  "  A  Handbook  of  British  Fungi,  with  descriptions  of 
all  the  species,  and  illustrations  of  the  genera."  By  M.  C. 
Cooke,  M.A.  In  2  vols.,  crown  8vo.  London:  Macmillan 
&Co. 


is  to  intimate'  to  those  who  are  not  yet  fortunate 
enough  to  possess  it,  that  it  is  a  complete  key  to 
the  mycological  flora  of  Britain  up  to  the  time  of 
going  to  press.  Every  genus  has  its  description 
and  its  illustrative  woodcut,  giving  the  special  dis- 
tinctive features  of  the  genus ;  most  of  these  are 
microscopical.  Each  order  has  also  an  artificial 
key  to  the  genera  it  contains.  In  hundreds  of 
instances  microscopical  measurements  of  the  spores 
are  given,  both  in  decimals  of  an  inch  and  of  a 
millimetre.  A  full  and  compendious  index  to 
genera,  species,  and  synonyms  is  given  at  the  close. 
An  introduction  is  wanted  detailing  the  structure 
and  affinities  of  the  different  groups ;  but  as  this 
would  have  occupied  at  least  another  volume  of 
ecjual  bulk,  it  is  postponed  for  the  present. 

Life  beneath  the  Waves.* — This  little  vo- 
lume is  another  about  sea-anemones,  star-fish, 
shrimps,  crabs,  molluscs,  and  the  many  inhabitants 
of  the  sea,  not  only  deep  beneath  the  waves  but  also 
along  shore.  If  we  were  challenged  to  say  in  what 
features  this  book  is  superior  to  its  many  prede- 
cessors, we  confess  that  we  should  feel  puzzled. 
Already  we  have  a  legion  of  books  for  the  seashore, 
and  yet  another  and  another  makes  its  appearance. 
After  all, — well  it  may  be  prejudice— give  us  one 
of  the  many  books  written  by  that  veteran  Philip 
H.  Gosse,  rather  than  twenty  such  as  we  could 
name  if  we  were  compelled  to  do  so,  including  the 
present.  If  the  author  has  "yielded  to  the  solici- 
tations of  friends,"  then  the  friends  are  to  blame, 
unless  they  are  shareholders  in  the  Brighton 
aquarium,  in  which  case,  perhaps,  such  an  ad- 
vertisement may  be  presumed  to  pay. 


BEAKS  OF  INSECTIVOROUS  BIRDS. 

IT  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  wonderful 
variety  of  form  exhibited  in  the  beaks  of  birds 
whose  mission  it  is  to  thin  the  overcrowded  ranks 
of  the  insect  world.  They  are,  as  may  be  supposed, 
much  weaker  than  in  those  tribes  which,  like  the 
Parrots,  are  destined  to  break  strong  nuts,  or,  as 
the  Eagles  and  other  birds  of  prey,  have  to  tear 
tough  flesh  to  pieces  and  to  separate  elastic  car- 
tilage. Still  there  are  exceptions.  The  Wood- 
pecker is  one— that  veritable  carpenter  of  the 
forests,  which 

"  to  the  trunk 
Close  clinging,  with  unwearied  beak  assails 
The  hollow  bark  ;  through  every  cell  the  strokes 
Roll  the  dire  echoes." 

Its  work  is  to  pickaxe  a  gallery  in  tough  wood :  its 
beak,  in  consequence,  has  the  form  of  a  wedge,  and 
is  endowed  with  a  strength  and  force  which  enables 


*  "  Life  beneath  the  Waves,  and  a  description  of  the 
Brighton  Aquarium."  With  numerous  illustrations.  London: 
Tinsley  Brothers. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


227 


its  possessor  not  merely  to  tear  away  the  stringy, 
fibrous  bark,  but  to  penetrate  deep  fissures  in  the 
body  of  the  tree,  and  to  dig  long  galleries  in  the 
larger  branches,  in  search  of  its  insect  prey. 

Perhaps  the  most  powerful  of  these  workers  in 
wood  is  the  Ivory-bill  (Campephil us  principalis),  so 
called  from    the    colour  and    consistence    of   its 


Fig.  124.  Ivory  Bill  (Campephitus  principalis). 

polished  beak  (fig.  124).  "  Wherever  (says  Wilson, 
in  his  'American  Ornithology')  he  frequents,  he 
leaves  numerous  monuments  of  his  industry  behind 
him.  We  there  see  enormous  pine-trees  with  cart- 
loads of  bark  lying  around  their  roots,  and  chips  of 
the  trunk  itself  in  such  quantities  as  to  suggest  the 
idea  that  half  a  dozen  axemen  had  been  at  work 
there  the  whole  morning.  The  body  of  the  tree  is 
also  disfigured  with  so  numerous  and  so  large 
excavations  that  one  can  hardly  conceive  it  possible 
for  the  whole  to  be  the  work  of  a 
woodpecker." 

Another  exception  we  find  in  the 
Oxpeckers  (or  Buphagids)  of  South 
Africa,  whose  strange  destiny  it  is  to 
relieve  the  buffaloes  of  the  parasitic 
larvoe  with  which  their  hides  are  in- 
fested. The  beaks  of  these  birds  are 
remarkably  strong,  and  square  in 
shape,  well  adapted  to  pierce  the 
thick  integument  with  which  these 
animals  are  clothed,  and  to  tear  the 
disgusting  grub  from  its  place  of 
concealment. 

Where  the  aliment  is  of  a  mingled  nature,  partly 
of  grain  and  partly  of  insects   (which  is,  in  fact, 


are  furnished  with  a  flat,  wide  mouth,  adapted  to 
grasp,  not  to  break  up,  floating  bodies ;  an  opera- 
tion considerably  aided  by  a  number  of  stiff  hairs 
which  surround  the  base  of  the  bill  (fig.  125).  On 
looking  at  the  beak  of  the  Humming-bird,  we  "find 
this  organ  to  be  greatly  diversified  in  form,  and  that 
each  of  these  variations  appears  to  be  specially 
adapted  for  some  given  purpose.  Indeed  I  have 
never  seen  the  law  of  adaptation  more  beautifully 
exemplified  than  in  the  multiplied  forms  exhibited 
in  the  bills  of  the  members  of  the  various  genera 
of  this  family  of  birds.  If  we  examine  the  extra- 
ordinarily lengthened  bill  of  Docimastes  ensifer  and 


Fig.  126.  Lesbia  Gouldii. 

the  short,  feeble  bill  of  Lesbia  Gouldii  (fig.  126),  we 
see  the  extremes  as  regards  the  length  of  this 
organ,  and  we  are  not  less  astonished  at  the  func- 
tions they  are  both  intended  to  perform.  The  bill 
of  the  D.  ensifer,  which  is  more  than  five  inches 


Fig.  123.  Goatsucker  (Caprimulgus). 

usually  the  case),  the  beak  is  short  and  tolerably 
strong;  where  it  is  purely  animal,  it  is  weak  in 
structure,  though  variable  in  shape.  Thus,  the 
birds  whose  lot  it  is  to  capture  and  devour  their 
prey  on  the  wing — the  Swallows  and  Goatsuckers — 


Fig.  12/.  Docimastes  ensifer. 

long  (fig.  127)  and  which  contains  a  tongue  capable 
of  being  protruded  nearly  as  far  beyond  its  tip,  is 
most  admirably  fitted  for  the  exploration  of  the 


Fig.  123.  Helianthea  eos. 

lengthened  and  pendent  corollas  of  the  Brugmansia?, 
while  the  short-billed  Lesbise  clinglothe  upper  por: 


22S 


HARDWICKE'S      SCIEN  CE  -  GO  S  SIP. 


tion  of  these  flowers,  pierce  their  bases,  and  with 
the  delicate  feelers  at  the  extremity  of  the  tongue 
readily  secure  the  insects  which  there  abound.  In 
no  part  of  America  are  there  so  many  tubular- 
flowered  plants  as  among  the  Andes ;  and  the 
greater  number  of  the  humming-birds  found 
there  have  straight  and  lengthened  bills,  such  as 
the  members  of  the  genera  Helianthea  (fig.  12S), 
Bourcieria,  Coligeua,  &c.    The  arched  bill  of  the 


Fig.  129.  Phtethornis  anthophilus. 

Phaethornithes  (fig.  129)  is  admirably  adapted 
for  securing  the  insects  which  resort  to  the  leaves 
of  trees,  and  upon  which  these  birds  are  said  to 
exist.     But   how    much  are  we   astonished  when 


Fig.  130.  Euto.reres  ar/uila. 

we  examine  the  bill  of  Eutoxeres  (fig.  130),  and 
find  this  organ  curved  downwards  beyond  the  extent 
of  a  semicircle, — a  form  beautifully  adapted  for  ex- 
ploring the  scale-covered  stems  of  the  larger  palms. 
Let  us  turn  to  another  genus  of  the  group,  Grypus  ; 
here  the  bill  is  not  only  armed  with  a  strong  hook 
at  the  end  of  the  mandibles,  but  with  a  row  of 
numerous  and  thickly-set  teeth.*    The  G.  ncuvius 


Fig.  131.  Heliothrix  auriculata. 

is  said  to  frequent  the  borders  of  the  great  forests, 
and  to  gain  its  food  from  among  the  interstices  of 
the  bark  of  the  palm-trees.  All  the  members  of  the 
genus  Ramphornicron  are  said  to  feed  on  insects 


*  This  structure,  according  to  Mr.  Darwin  ("  Descent  of 
Man,"  ii.  39),  is  confined  to  the  male  bird.  He  adds,  "  hi  the 
curious  Neomorpha  of  New  Zealand  there  is  a  still  wider 
difference  in  the  form  of  the  beak,  and  Mr.  Gould  has  been 
informed  that  the  male,  with  his  straight  and  stout  beak, 
tears  off  the  bark  of  trees,  that  the  female  may  feed  on  the 
uncovered  larvae  with  her  weaker  and  more  curved  beak." 


which  inhabit  the  Alpine  florae ;  and  their  bill  is 
well  suited  to  the  capture  of  the  minute  insects 
found  in  those  elevated  regions.  In  some  instances 
the  bill  is  perfectly  wedgeshaped,  as  in  Heliothrix 
(fig.  131) ;  while  in  others  it  suddenly  turns  upwards, 


Fig.  132.  Avoc.ttula  recur eirostris. 

as  in  Avocettula  (fig.  132).  Besides  these,  there  are 
others  whose  bills  approach  somewhat  to  the  form 
of  the  Flycatchers,  as  the  Aithurus  (fig.  133).  This 
bird,  we  know,  frequently  seizes  insects  on  the  wing, 


Fig.  133.  Aithurus polytmus. 

and  so,  doubtless,  do  many  of  the  others.  It  will 
have  been  seen  that  all  these  forms  of  bill  are  well 
suited  for  the  capture  of  insects,  and,  as  might  be 
supposed,  insects  constitute  the  principal  food  of 
the  Humming-bird.  (J.  Gould,  "  Monograph  of  the 
Trochilidoe.")  I  have  been  tempted  to  give  the  above 
lengthy  extract  from  Mr.  Gould's  great  work  on 
the  Humming-bird  tribe,  partly  from  the  admirable 
manner  in  which  the  author  illustrates  the  subject 
before  us,  and  partly  from  the  fact  that  so  large  and 
expensive  a  work  is  probably  in  the  hands  of  but 
few  of  the  readers  of  Sciexce-Gosstp. 


Fig.  134.  Woodcock. 

In  certain  cases  the  food  is  sought  for,  not  in  the 
air  or  on  dry  land,  but  in  the  water,  or  in  mud  an 
other  soft  earthy  matter.  Here  the  beak  is  again 
modified  for  the  purpose  in  view,  and  it  usually  takes 
one  of  two  typical  forms.  The  Woodcock  (fig.  131), 
Snipe,  and  other  members  of  the  family  of  Scolo- 
pacidas,  are  furnished  with  a  very  long  and  pointed 
bill,  which  is  further  supplied  with  a  remarkably 


HAftDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


2£9 


sensitive  tip  (fig.  135),  admirably  adapted  for  search- 
ing far  below  the  surface  in  boggy  and  marshy 
ground,  and  extracting  therefrom  larvas  and  worms. 
At  other  times  it  is  spread  out,  as  it  were,  into  a 


Fig.  135.  Bill  of  Snipe  (Yarrcll). 

broad  flat  surface,  the  very  antipodes  of  the  one  just 
mentioned  (fig.  136),  but  equally  well  fitted  to  the 
wants  of  its  possessor.  The  apex,  too,  is  rounded, 
and  without  the  sensitive  integument  which  is  so 


Fig.  136.  Common  Swan. 

important  an  aid  to  the  Snipe  and  the  Woodcock  in 
their  researches.  In  lieu  of  this,  the  sides  of  the 
bill  are  bordered  with  a  network  of  fringe,  which 
allows  of  the  expulsion  of  the  mud  through  its 


Fig.  13;.  Shoveller. 

meshes,  while  it  retains  the  fat  grub  or  the  juicy 
worm.  It  is  with  this  form  of  bill  that  we  see  a 
group  of  ducks  at  the  side  of  a  village  pond  "  dis- 
cussing" the  debris  taken  up,  and  rejecting  what  is 
not  needed  for  their  support  (fig.  137). 

Itchen  Albas.  W.  W.  Spicer. 

The  Elea.— Mr.  Furlonge  having  courteously 
forwarded  me  a  copy  of  his  interesting  paper  on 
the  Anatomy  of  the  Bed-flea,  I  am  pleased  to 
observe  that  his  remarks  on  the  subject  of  the 
"  Triangular  Plates "  so  far  coincide  with  mine 
(p.  155),  that  he  considers  them  as  covers,  though 
not  particularly  of  the  lancets.  My  views  are, 
therefore,  so  far  strengthened.  This  was  the  chief 
point  of  my  paper.  I  will  not  enter  upon  others 
mooted  by  Mr.  Eurlouge,  which  will  no  doubt  be 
well  discussed  at  the  Quekett  Club.  I  will  venture, 
however,  to  add  that  I  still  hold  in  the  main  by 
Professor  R.  Jones's  explanation,  as  quoted  by  me : 
that  the  cutting  instruments  are  two,— viz.,  the 
lancets ;  that  the  tongue  is  a  suctorial  organ,  and 
nothing  more;  and  that  the  tongue- case  is  not  in 
any  way  a  cutting  instrument ;  though  this  is  not 
in  accordance  with  Mr.  Gosse's  views,  nor  those  of 
the  Micrographic  Dictionary. — S.  IS. 


INSECTS  AT  BATH. 

A  COPJIESPONDENT  inquires  concerning  the 
-*--*-  nature  of  the  insects  which  fell  lately  at 
Bath.  I  beg  to  inclose  a  photograph  of  a  drawing 
of  them,  made  by  a  friend  of  mine  in  Bath,  a  gen- 
tleman well  versed  in  natural  history. 


Fig.  138. 


Fig.  139- 


Fig.  140. 
Copy  from  Photograph  of  insects  that  fell  at  Bath. 

W.   B.    GlBBS. 


CARRIER  PIGEON  AND  PLOVER. 

A  FEW  weeks  ago  I  procured  a  young  plover 
-£*-  (T'uueUus  cristutits)  ;  it  had  been  reared  by  a 
cottager  in  Hertford.  At  the  time  it  came  into  my 
possession  it  was  just  commencing  to  feed  itself ; 
being  tame,  it  readily  fed  from  the  hand,  which 
made  it  quite  a  household  favourite.  Of  course, 
such  a  pretty  bird  is  an  object  of  interest  among 
my  friends— his  large,  soft,  inquiring  eye,  fine  crests 
and  glossy  green  feathers,  tipped  with  gold,  are  not 


230 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


a  little  attractive.  As  soon  as  my  pewet  could  do 
for  himself,  he  was  transferred  to  the  aviary,  a  place 
he  seemed  to  enjoy  exceedingly,  making  himself 
much  at  home,  paddling  in  a  pan  of  water,  and  in- 
dulging in  a  bath  once  or  twice  a  day.  After  preen- 
ing and  spreading  his  long  wings,  he  would  some- 
times fly  across  the  aviary.  Things  went  on  very 
well  until  the  introduction  of  a  pair  of  young  haw- 
finches, and  as  they  were  just  beginning  to  fly,  they 
were  often  hopping  about  the  bottom  of  the  aviary. 
The  lapwing  treated  the  youngsters  anything  but 
courteously,  for  as  soon  as  the  finches  approached  the 
sop-bread,  he  raised  his  crest  and  uttered  a  succes- 
sion of  cries,  leaving  out  the  latter  part  of  his  usual 
call ;  at  the  same  time  running  at  the  legs  of  the 
young  birds,  sweeping  his  bill  along  the  ground  after 
the  manner  of  the  common  duck,  evideatly  with  an 
intention  of  taking  the  intruders,  as  he  considered 
them,  by  the  leg;  the  poor  finch  gave  a  piercing  cry 
and  got  quickly  away.  In  consequence  of  this 
rough  treatment,  the  crested  bird  was  removed  to 
another  aviary,  in  which  carrier  pigeons  are  kept, 
where  I  expected  he  would  cause  quite  a  sensation ; 
but  not  so,  the  pewet  walked  about  and  made  him- 
self at  home,  and  the  pigeons  seemed  unconcerned. 
Things  went  on  very  well  until  a  few  crumbs  of 
bread  were  given  to  the  plover.  Pigeons  have  an 
appetite  for  bread,  and  evidently  intended  to  share 
the  meal  with  their  new  companion ;  but  he  showed 
a  decided  opposition,  by  pulling  the  feathers  out  of 
the  pigeons  as  soon  as  they  approached  the  crumbs. 
After  a  few  days  the  carriers  began  to  turn  round, 
but  it  was  of  no  use,  they  could  not  understand  the 
lapwing's  manner  of  combat.  What  with  his  noise 
and  rapid  succession  of  attacks,  the  pigeons  re- 
treated with  the  loss  of  a  few  feathers,  and  although 
not  much  hurt,  they  were  decidedly  confused. 

Chas.  J.  W.  Rudd. 


PISTILLODY. 

ALTHOUGH  so  much  has  been  written  about 
abnormal  forms  of  plants,  and  though  the 
study  of  them  has  been  reduced  to  a  science,  there 
is  always  something  turning  up  which,  if  not  abso- 
lutely new,  is  at  any  rate  highly  interesting,  and,  as 
such,  is  worth  recording.  Perhaps,  amongst  the 
most  curious  and  unexpected  examples  one  meets 
with  are  those  in  which  male  organs  become  trans- 
formed into  female,  and  vice  versa.  We  used  to  be 
taught  to  consider  that  a  theoretically  perfect  flower 
should  consist  of  stamens  and  pistils  surrounded  by 
the  perianth  ;  because  such  a  combined  arrangement 
was  the  most  certain  to  insure  fertilization.  Now, 
however,  when  so  many  wonderful  facts  connected 
with  cross-fertilization  have  been  brought  to  light, 
we  arc  almost  constrained  to  believe  that  those 


flowers  are  the  most  perfect  which  have  lost  the 
hermaphrodite  condition,  and  bear  their  stamens  and 
pistils  in  separate  flowers,  because  in  them  self-fer- 
tilization is  an  impossibility.  We  used  also  to  think 
that  when  a  flower  became  unisexual  it  was  by  the 
suppression  of  one  set  of  organs ;  that  in  a  female 
flower  the  stamens,  which,  in  a  theoretically  perfect 
flower,  ought  to  have  been  there,  were  suppressed  ; 
whilst,  in  a  male  flower,  the  pistils  were  lost.  Per- 
haps this  is  the  usual  process  which  Nature  adopts 
in  making  unisexual  flowers,  for  we  can,  not  unfre- 
quenily,  detect  the  rudiments  of  the  suppressed 
organs ;  but  flowers  occasionally  become  unisexual 
by  the  actual  conversion  of  stamens  into  pistils,  or 
of  pistils  into  stamens;  and  though  it  is  only  in 
monstrous  specimens  that  we  observe  the  strange 
transformation,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  mons- 
trosity may  have  become  the  habit  in  certain  species. 
Scientifically  this  peculiar  phenomenon  is  called,  as 
the  case  may  be,  "  pistillody  of  the  stamens,"  and 
"  staminody  of  the  pistils." 

I  described  a  wallflower  some  time  ago,  in  which 
pistillody  of  the  stamens  had  taken  place.  Since  then 
I  have  met  with  a  still  more  curious  example.  I 
have  growing  at  the  present  time  two  plants  of  Nas- 
turtium (Tropaolum  majus),  which  catch  the  eye,  in 
the  first  instance,  on  account  of  the  apparent  absence 
of  petals.  On  closer  inspection,  it  is  seen  that  the 
petals  are  there,  but  that  they  are  reduced  to  the 
size,  shape,  and  colour  of  the  sepals.  Both  plants 
are  covered  with  these  little,  apparently  double 
flowers ;  so  that  it  is  probable  that  the  two  seeds 
from  which  they  were  produced  came  from  a  similar 
plant.  In  one  flower  only  there  is  one  petal  pro- 
perly developed,  which  points  straight  downwards, 
giving  the  flower  a  strange  aspect. 

But  not  one  of  these  flowers  contains  any  stamens. 
Those  organs  have  all  become  pistils.  But  even  this 
is  not  all ;  for  either  the  true  pistils  are  absent  alto- 
gether, or  the  stamen-pistils  have  arranged  them- 
selves in  the  same  whorl  with  them,  and  the  result 
is  a  complete  ring  of  ovaries,  exactly  as  we  have 
them  in  the  Mallow.  This  is  particularly  interest- 
ing, for  the  Tropseolums  are  placed  in  the  Malva 
Alliance ;  and  the  order  Tropa;olacea3  is  not  very  far 
removed  from  Malvaceae  ;  but  here,  in  this  strange, 
monstrous  nasturtium  we  have  the  relationship 
made  more  evident  by  the  ring  of  seeds  at  the  base 
of  the  transformed  stamens. 

Robert  Holland. 


LjNNJEA  glutinosa.— Last  month  (August)  I 
took  several  specimens  of  this  river  snail  in  the 
Brusna,  King's  Couuty.  I  cannot  find  it  mentioned 
in  Mr.  Thompson's  "  Natural  History  of  Ireland," 
though  I  hardly  suppose  it  is  new  to  that  island. — 
C.  Ashford,  Grove  House,  Tottenham. 


HAHDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


231 


PUBLIC  INSECTAPJA. 

rpiIE  suggestion  of  Mr.  W.  M.  Macpherson  is 
■*-  of  the  utmost  importance  to  all  lovers  of 
Natural  History,  aud  many  must  regret  the  absence 
of  an  "  Insectarium "  at  the  Zoological  Gardens, 
Regent's  Park,  of  that  interesting  department — 
Entomology— which  is  inferior  to  none. 


Fig.  141. 

Could  an  Insectarium  be  erected,  it  would  afford 
to  the  amateur  Entomologist  an  *opportunity"of 
studying  the  various  insects,[with  their  wonderful 
transformations,  disclosing  a  succession  of  pheno- 
mena in  some  instances  more  striking  and  beautiful 
than  can  be  imagined. 

I  think  that  a  house  to  hold]  the  various  "viva- 
riums "  could  be  erected  upon  a  horticultural 
principle,  no  amount  ofjlight*and  sunshine  being 
too  much  for  butterflies,  &c. 

I  beg  to  annex  a  drawing  of  an  insect  vivarium, 
which  is  considered  sufficiently  adapted  for  the 
rearing  and  keeping  of  [insects.  As  some  insects 
require  water,  an  aqua  -  vivarium 'could 'be  con- 
structed upon  the  samey  principle/  the  'upper  part 
being  made  to  lift  off  from  the  aquarium,  which 


could  only  be  done  when  none  of  the  insects  are  on 
the  wing.  One  side  of  both  structures  should  open 
like  a  door,  to  allow  the  interior  to  be  cleaned  and 
arranged  when  necessary.  The  water  need  not 
occupy  the  whole  area  of  the  bottom,  but  be  made 
to  represent  the  irregular  shores  of  a  mimic  lake, 
round  which  can  be  grown  the  ferns,  grasses,  &c, 
the  various  insects  require.  Short,  close-growing 
grass  is  a  most  important  thing  to  produce;  but  the 
different  sorts  of  food  depend  on  the  dif- 
ferent insects  each  vivarium  contains. 

The  vivarium  and  aqua-vivarium  must  be 
kept  scrupulously  clean,  and,  above  all,  let 
the  ventilation  be  perfect.  Plants  at  night 
give  off  carbonic  acid  gas,  which,  if  there  is 
not  ample  opportunity  for  it  to  escape,  would 
soon  kill  the  insects.  This  can  be  avoided 
by  having  perforated  zinc  at  the  top  of  each 
vivarium,  and  some  at  the  side  near  the 
bottom,  thus  insuring  a  continuous  current 
of  air  through  each  structure. 

Those  who  make  Entomology  a  study  will 
doubtless  find  the  vivarium  and  aqua-vivarium 
a  valuable  acquisition. 

Tikxmas  C.  Oboejst. 
Tangley  Par/,;  Worplesdon,  Surrey. 


ZOOLOGY. 

Spiders.— Spiders    are  spread  over  well 
nigh  every  portion  of  the  globe ;  but   it  is 
chiefly  in  the  tropics  that  we  find  species  of 
large  size,  of  strange  form,  or  of  brilliant  and 
varied  colours.    The  members  of  the  lovely 
genus  Argyopus,   remarkable  for  the  bril- 
liancy of  their  silver  and  golden  livery,  and 
the  species  of  Gasteracantha,  whose  bodies 
are  studded  with  long  hard  spines,  are  found 
only  hr'the  hottest  regions  of  America,  Asia, 
and  Africa.     The  kinds  most  frequently  met 
with    in   the  North  belong  to  the  genera 
Thomisus,  Lycosa,  Clubiona,  and  Tegenaria, 
most  of  which  pass  their  lives  in  dark  places 
or  under  stones.    But  the  spiders  which  are  most 
prettily  marked  are  such  as  spread  their  nets  in  the 
open  air  —  the  species  of  Epeira,  Thomisus,   and 
Sporassus,  which  frequent  flowers.     On  the  other 
hand,  the  Tegenarise,  Clubionse,  and  Lycosa;,  which 
inhabit  sombre  spots  but  little  exposed  to  the  sun's 
rays,  are  invariably  of  a  brown  or  greyish  hue. — 
Blanchard,  Diet  ionna  ire  Univ.  (V  Hist.  Nat. 

Ant  Guests.— There  are  several  species  of 
beetles  which  are  never  seen  in  any  other  localities 
than  ants'  nests  ;  and,  until  their  singular  mode  of 
living  was  discovered,  were  ranked  among  the 
rarest  of  our  insects.  No  less  than  thirty-seven 
species  of  ants'  -  nest  beetles  have  already  been 
acknowledged,   besides  the  larvse  of  three  other 


232 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GO  S  S  IP. 


species.  One  very  rare  species  of  the  Staphylinidrc, 
or  Cocktail  beetle  (Atemeles  emarginatus),  has  now 
become  quite  common,  so  frequently  is  it  found  in 
the  nest  of  the  ant.  The  locality  of  this  beetle  was 
discovered  by  a  collector,  who  saw  an  ant  carrying 
one  of  the  beetles  into  its  nest.  As  to  the  beetles 
themselves,  they  seem  to  be  quite  as  much  at  home 
as  the  ants ;  and,  when  the  nest  is  laid  open,  their 
first  attempt  is  to  escape  into  the  furthest  galleries, 
or  to  hide  themselves  in  the  nearest  crevice.  The 
ants,  however,  watch  them  carefully,  run  after  them, 
seize  them  in  their  jaws,  and  carry  them  back  again 
into  their  nests. — Wood,  "Homes  without  Hands." 

The  Firefly  in  Canada.— The  Firefly  (Lam- 
pyris  corusca)  illuminates  our  summer  nights  with 
its  radiance.  When  I  came  up  the  country  from 
the  St.  Lawrence,  travelling  late  one  evening,  I 
first  saw  these  pretty  insects.  The  light  you  see  is 
of  a  yellow  colour,  like  that  of  flame,  and  very 
different  from  the  blue  gleam  of  our  English  glow- 
worm. From  this  circumstance  I  at  first  took 
them  for  candles  in  the  woods,  and  though  told 
what  they  were,  at  every  one  that  appeared  the 
same  idea  would  come  across  my  mind,  that  it  was 
some  one  in  the  woods  carrying  a  candle,  until  I 
became  more  familiar  with  them.  Even  now,  if  I  see 
one  suddenly,  without  having  expected  it,  the  im- 
pression momentarily  recurs.  They  more  frequently 
fire  out  the  light  while  flying  tban  when  crawling 
or  resting,  though  we  may  often  observe  the  inter- 
mittent gleam  as  one  crawls  up  a  stalk  of  grass  or 
rests  on  the  leaf  of  a  tree.  They  fly  slowly,  and  as  they 
fly,  emit  and  conceal  their  light  with  great  regularity, 
at  intervals  of  two  or  three  seconds  ;  making  inter- 
rupted lines  of  light  through  the  air,  gleaming  slowly 
along  for  about  a  yard,  then  suddenly  quenched,  and 
appearing  again  at  the  same  distance.  The  insect 
is  a  pretty  beetle,  with  soft  elytra  of  a  light  brown 
colour,  marked  with  red,  and  handsomely  striped. 
The  light  proceeds  from  the  last  three  segments 
of  the  abdomen,  which  are  of  a  delicate  cream-colour 
by  day.  At  night  these  three  segments  are  bright 
at  all  times,  but  at  the  regular  intervals  I  have 
mentioned  they  flash  out  with  dazzling  splendour. 
If  this  part  be  plucked  off  and  crushed,  many 
patches  of  brilliance  occur  for  a  few  moments 
among  the  flesh,  but  they  gradually  die  away.  In 
summer  evenings  they  often  occur  in  great  numbers, 
especially  over  wet  and  marshy  ground :  I  have 
seen  the  whole  air  for  a  few  yards  above  the  surface 
of  a  large  iield  completely  filled  with  them,  thicker 
than  the  stars  on  a  winter  night ;  and  flashing  and 
disappearing,  every  one  moving  about  in  their  mazy 
evolutions,— it  is  really  a  very  beautiful  sight.  It  is 
commonly  believed  these  numbers  precede  rain. 
Notwithstanding  their  abundance,  they  are  not 
often  seen  by  day.  They  are  known  here  by  the  name 
of  lightning  bugs.— Gosse,    "  Canadian  Naturalist." 


Blisteu-Fly.— On  the  lGtli  of  June  of  this  year 
I  captured  a  single  specimen  of  the  elegant  Blister 
or  Spanish-fly  (Lytta  vesicatrix).  It  was  crawling 
lazily  over  a  rose-bush,  after  the  manner  of  its  kind, 
in  the  early  morning.  This  beetle— for  beetle  it  is, 
in  spite  of  its  common  name— is,  I  think,  sufficiently 
rare  to  warrant  a  record  of  its  capture  in  the  pages 
of  Scie  nce-  Gossip.— W.  W.  Spice r,  Itchen  Abbas. 

Khagitjm  bifasciatum.— I  cannot  understand 
how  your  correspondent  "  J.  L.  C."  (S.-G.,  81, 
215)  has  found  any  difficulty  in  getting  a  descrip- 
tion of  Rhagium  bifasciatum.  1  imagined  it  was 
described  in  all  works  giving  characters  of  the 
species  of  British  Coleoptera.  In  any  I  have  seen 
it  is  mentioned.  11.  bifasciatum  is  one  of  our  com- 
mon longicorns,  and  it  is  much  more  often  met  with 
than  the  allied  species,  R.  indagator  and  li.  inqui- 
sitor, though  the  latter  is  not  rare,  at  least  in 
Scotland.  It  feeds  as  a  larva  in  fir  wood,  always  in 
decaying  trunks  or  branches,  in  which  the  large 
maggot-like  larva  may  be  frequently  and  abundantly 
met  with.  I  have  found  fifty  or  sixty  in  a  small 
portion  of  a  decaying  branch  of  a  Scotch  fir.  The 
perfect  insect  is  generally  most  plentifully  to  be 
found  in  September  and  October,  though  I  have 
met  with  it  at  most  times  of  the  year.  I  take  the 
following  short  description  of  it  from  the  "  Ento- 
mologia  Edinensis,"  which  happens  to  be  by  me : — 
"  Brownish  black,  shining,  elytra  with  two  oblique 
abbreviated  testaceous  yellow  fasciae.  The  exter- 
nal margin  and  apex  of  the  abdomen  rufous,  ? 
9 — 10  lines,  <?  considerably  smaller."  I  have  found 
the  perfect  insect  generally  in  the  wood,  but 
sometimes  taking  a  wider  range,  and  examining  the 
bloom  of  ragwort ;  by  which  I  mean  Senecio,  and 
not  Tussilago. — W.  I).  R. 

Betentiveness  of  Memory  in  a  "Wolf. — In 
the  year  1SG7,  during  a  sojourn  at  Clifton,  I  struck 
up  a  great  friendship  with  a  wolf  confined  in  the 
Zoological  Gardens.  He  became  so  attached  that 
he  would  allow  me  to  caress  him  through  the  bars 
of  his  cage,  to  place  my  hands  in  his  mouth,  and,  in 
short,  he  played  with  me  exactly  as  a  dog  would, 
much  to  the  surprise  and  amusement  of  the  by- 
standers, a  crowd  of  whom  I  have  often  caused  to 
start  by  simply  whistling  from  a  distance,  when  the 
wolf  would  leap  violently  against  the  door  of  his 
cage,  and  make  frantic  efforts  in  reality  to  get  at 
me,  although  to  the  spectators  it  seemed  as  though 
he  was  only  bent  on  sanguinary  thoughts  towards 
themselves.  That  the  animal's  attachment  was 
purely  personal  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  friend 
of  mine,  desirous  of  emulating  my  success,  got 
rather  a  nasty  bite  for  his  pains.  After  a  while  I 
left  Clifton,  and  did  not  return  until  May  in  the 
present  year.  One  of  my  first  visits  was  to  the 
Zoological  Gardens,  and  I  at  once  set  to  work  to 
test  the  wolf's  affection  and  retentiveness  of  memory 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


by  whistling  in  a  low  tone  at  as  great  a  distance 
from  its  den  as  allowed  of  my  watching  its  move- 
ments. At  the  first  sound  the  animal,  which  before 
was  "loafing  about"  in  a  listless  manner,  raised 
its  head  and  listened,  and,  on  my  continuing  to 
whistle,  it  bounded  against  the  bars  with  every  mark 
of  joy.  Long  before  I  reached  the  cage  he  recognized 
my  footsteps,  and  strove  to  engage  my  attention  by 
whining  and  throwing  himself  into  all  kinds  of  queer 
positions.  My  welcome,  in  fact,  was  of  the  warmest 
kind,  and  I  left  him  with,  I  was  going  to  say,  mutual 
expressions  of  sincere  regret ;  for  if  ever  an  animal 
gave  expression  to  its  feelings,  it  was  this  poor 
wolf,  who  recognized  me  after  so  long  an  absence. — 
W.  W.  Spicer,  lichen  Abbas. 

Swallows  Building  on  Cliffs.— During  a 
walk  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Havre,  in  August,  I 
was  much  struck  with  the  manner  in  which  the 
Martins  (Eirundo  urbica)  utilize  the  cliffs  which 
border  the  river  Seine  on  its  northern  bank  for  the 
purpose  of  nidification.  These  cliffs,  lying  between 
Orches  and  Tancarville,  are  of  limestone  origin ; 
they  rise  to  a  height  of  some  200  feet  with  a  nearly 
perpendicular  section,  interrupted  only  by  slight 
projections  here  and  there ;  and  all  along  their 
upper  part  are  dotted  over  with  an  enormous  num- 
ber of  martins'  nests,  the  birds  themselves  wheel- 
ing through  the  air  in  hundreds,  in  search  of  food 
for  their  young.  A  safer  or  more  secure  spot  it 
would  be  difficult  to  imagine.  Similar  instances 
have  been  recorded  in  this  country  by  Yarrell  and 
others,  but  I  believe  they  are  by  no  means  common, 
the  usual  resort  of  the  martin  being  human  dwell- 
ings.— W.  W.  Spicer,  lichen  Abbas. 

Parasites  on  Arge  Galathea.— In  a  plantation 
on  the  now  famous  Tichborne  estate  I  every  year 
take  large  numbers  of  the  Marbled  White  butterfly 
{Arge  Galathea),  and  in  many  of  the  specimens  I  find 
a  quantity  of  minute  insects  of  the  brightest  scar- 
let ;  so  small,  indeed,  are  they,  that  it  requires  a 
sharp  eye  to  detect  them.  Now,  at  the  time  of 
year  when  Galathea  makes  its  appearance,  the 
detestable  Acanis  autumnalis — it  is  popularly  called 
the  Harvest  Bob  here— makes  its  hated  appearance 
all  too  clearly  perceptible  on  our  poor  legs ;  and  I 
never  can  visit  this  particular  wood  to  search  for 
entomological  specimens  without  suffering  acutely 
from  its  attacks.  Doubtless  some  of  the  many 
readers  of  Science-Gossip  will  be  able  to  give  me 
some  information  whether  the  little  red  things  I 
have  observed  are  acari,  and  whether  they  derive 
nourishment  from  the  juices  of  the  butterfly,  as  they 
do  from  the  blood  of  the  unfortunate  entomologist. 
There  is  one  thing  I  think  very  remarkable — plenti- 
ful as  I  find  it  in  Galathea,  I  have  never  detected 
its  appearance  in  any  other  butterfly. — Joseph 
Anderson,  Jim.,  Alresford,  Hants. 


Vampire  Bat. — Rising  before  dawn  the  next 
day,  we  found  from  the  blood-clotted  hides  of  our 
animals  that  they  had  suffered  severely  from  the 
vampire  (Fespcrtilio  naso,  or  Phyllostoma  spectrum) 
—a  phyllostoma  locally  called  by  the  generic  name 
of  Morcezo  andira  or  Guandira.  These  big,  ruddy 
brown  bats,  of  ghostly  flight  and  cannibal  tastes, 
are  confined  to  the  American  continent.  They  seem 
to  select  the  neck,  shoulders,  withers,  and  hind- 
quarters of  animals — in  fact,  to  attack  where  they 
can  least  be  disturbed.  When  a  "raw"  exists,  it 
is  chosen  before  other  places.  The  muleteers 
declare  that  the  phlebotomy  does  no  harm.  I 
remarked  that  it  always  enfeebled  the  patient. 
Messieurs  Bates  and  A.  11.  "Wallace,  and  my  excel- 
lent friend  Mr.  C.  H.  Williams,  of  Bahia,  suffered 
in  person  on  the  Amazons,  where  the  Bhinophyll 
appears  to  be  decidedly  anthropophagous.  All  the 
party  of  three  were  phlebotomized  in  the  big  toe 
during  a  single  night.  Mr.  Williams  felt  the  bite 
of  the  brute,  and  found  a  puncture  about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter.— Burton,  "  Highlands  of 
Brazil." 

Woodlark. — This  truly  melodious  singer  lives 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Nansladron  all  the  year 
round ;  but,  as  far  as  I  have  hitherto  noticed,  it 
appears  to  be  very  capricious  in  giving  vent  to  its 
sweet  notes.  Sometimes  it  will  sing  every  day  for 
weeks  together,  and  then  will  remain  silent  for  an 
equally  long  period ;  whether  it  be  summer  or 
winter,  these  fitful  gusts  of  joy  and  sadness  seem 
to  come  over  it.  Of  course,  like  every  other  sen- 
sible bird,  it  prefers  sunshine  to  clouds  and  rain ; 
but  when  the  heart  becomes  full,  at  whatever 
season  of  the  year,  it  does  not  appear  to  be  very 
particular  about  the  weather,  for  often  on  the 
coldest  days  of  winter  it  will  make  the  welkin  ring 
again  with  the  roll  of  its  sweetest  strains.  The 
Rev.  F.  0.  Morris  says  it  is  a  rare  bird  in  Cornwall ; 
but  I  can  speak  for  a  circuit  of  many  miles,  and 
considering  that  it  is  not  a  plentiful  bird  anywhere, 
our  woods  and  fields  contain  a  good  sprinkling  of 
them ;  and  if  the  other  woody  parts  of  this  country 
are  favoured  with  an  equal  number,  it  cannot  be 
considered  rare  by  any  means.  Colonel  Montague 
says  it  occurs  more  frequently  in  Devonshire  than 
any  other  part  of  Great  Britain,  and  as  the  climate 
of  Cornwall  resembles  that  of  Devon,  we  should 
almost  expect,  what  I  find  to  be  the  fact,  that 
great  numbers  do  make  their  habitat  amongst  us. — 
Joseph  Drew. 

Bird-Music— In  this  musical  age  it  has  often 
struck  me  as  remarkable  that  so  few,  even  of  the 
educated  classes,  regard  the  songs  of  birds.  Very 
certain  I  am  that  if  the  uninitiated  only  knew  the 
rapturous  pleasures  they  miss,  they  would  begin, 
however  late  in  life,  to  admire  the  choristers  of 
heaven,  and  so  taste  the  calm  joys  of  the  country 


234 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


and  the  soothing  influence  of  bird-music.  How- 
many  fair  ladies  there  are  who  can  tell  you  the 
style  of  any  musical  composer,  living  or  dead,  but 
who  know  so  little  of  God's  sylvau  performers, 
that  they  still  believe  Jenny  Wren  to  be  the  wife 
of  Cock  Robin ;  and  how  many  gentlemen  exist 
who  have  heard  and  will  remember  every  celebrated 
player  upon  wind  or  stringed  instruments,  who 
could  not  distinguish  the  song  of  Thrush  from 
Blackbird.  I  do  not  venture  to  blame  ladies  or 
gentlemen  when  following  the  bent  of  their 
festhetical  tastes,  but  at  the  same  time  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  tell  them,  that  in  preferring  man-  to 
bird-music,  they  place  the  comparative  before  the 
superlative,  and  choose  that  which,  from  its  arti- 
ficial surroundings,  is  very  often  prejudicial  to 
health,  instead  of  that  music  which  must  be  sought 
in  the  open  country,  and  which,  whilst  entrancing 
with  genuine  melody,  tends  to  develop  a  healthy 
mind  in  a  healthy  body.  I  would  observe,  too, 
that  whatever  the  taste  or  age  of  the  individual, 
it  is  certain  to  be  gratified ;  for  should  the  votary 
be  young,  and  filled  with  all  the  aspirations  and 
castle-building  of  youth,  let  him  listen  to  the 
Skylark,  Wren,  or  Hedge-sparrow,  and  his  highest 
flights  of  imagination  will  be  lost  in  wonder  and 
praise.  Is  he  of  middle  age,  when  experience  has 
modified  the  visions  of  former  years,  let  him  be 
melted  with  the  notes  of  the  Woodlark,  Blackbird, 
or  Blackcap,  and  any  tinge  of  disappointment  or 
sadness  will  be  lost  in  the  round  volumes  of  music  ; 
and  should  he  be  even  of  advanced  years,  nunc 
exacta  cp.tate,  the  Robin,  Wood-pigeon,  and  many 
others  will  make  him  feel,  by  their  plaintive  strains, 
that  even  the  denizens  of  the  wood  show  the 
warmest  sympathy  with  man  in  his  gradual  descent 
towards  the  Silent  Land  : — 

"  There  is  in  souls  a  sympathy  with  sounds, 
And  as  the  mind  is  pitch'd,  the  ear  is  pleased 
With  melting  airs  or  martial,  brisk  or  grave  : 
Some  chord  in  unison  with  what  we  hear 
Is  touched  within  us,  and  the  heart  replies." 

Erom  the  extreme  joy  I  have  ever  found,  and  still 
do  find,  in  observing  the  beautiful  hues  of  birds, 
watching  their  amusing  manners,  and  listening  to 
then-  melodious  songs,  I  do  sincerely  hope  these 
few  remarks  may  induce  some  of  the  readers  of 
Science-Gossip  to  devote  a  part  of  their  spare 
time  to  them,  and  taste  a  pleasure  free  from  all 
alloy. — Joseph  Drew,  Nansladron. 

Large  Tortoiseshell  {Vanessa poli/chloros),&c. 
— This  butterfly,  which  is  generally  considered  a 
rare  insect  in  this  neighbourhood,  has  been  taken 
here  (Norwich)  in  several  instances  this  summer.  I 
hear  from  several  of  my  friends  that  they  have 
taken  specimens.  One  of  them  asserts  that,  whilst 
out  walking  a  few  miles  from  here,  he  saw  over  a 
dozen  specimens,  but  not  having  his  net  wTith  him, 
he  was  unable  to  capture  any.    Whilst  out  for  a 


walk  on  Sunday,  Aug.  13th,  I  saw  a  female  alight 
on  the  trunk  of  an  elm-tree ;  I  had  no  net  at  the 
time,  but  approaching  it  cautiously,  1  succeeded  in 
picking  it  off  with  my  fore-finger  and  thumb,  and 
it  proved  a  very  fine  specimen.  Scarcely  had  I 
secured  it  ere  another  specimen  alighted  on  the 
very  identical  spot,  which  I,  however,  failed  to  cap- 
ture. In  the  absence  of  a  box,  I  pinned  it  inside 
my  hat,  and  got  it  home  in  good  condition.  I  also 
captured  another  specimen  whilst  out  entomo- 
logizing  on  Aug.  16th.  The  generality  of  butter- 
flies, I  find,  are  scarce  here  this  season;  but  I 
cannot  help  noticing  the  extraordinary  abundance 
of  the  Large  Cabbage  (Pieris  Brassicce),  the  males 
by  far  outnumbering  the  females. — B.  Laddiman, 
St.  Augustine's,  Nonoich. 

Deiopeia  pulchella  at  Brighton.  —  While 
walking  across  a  stubble-field  to  the  west  of 
Brighton,  my  brother  from  Cambridge,  who  is  a 
non-entomologist,  started  an  insect,  which  flew  by 
and  settled  within  a  few  feet  of  me.  I  was  so 
struck  with  the  appearance  of  the  creature  on  the 
wing  that  I  uttered  an  exclamation,  "  Why,  that's  a 
great  rarity  !  "  Any  of  your  readers  who  have  ever 
been  in  a  similar  situation  will  understand  my  wild 
excitement  while  a  net  was  being  taken  from  the 
pocket  and  fixed.  It  proved,  upon  being  secured, 
to  be  a  magnificent  specimen  of  D.  pulchella,  which, 
judging  from  the  brightness  of  its  colouring,  had 
but  recently  emerged.  It  was  shown  alive  to  several 
entomological  and  other  friends,  who  were  delighted 
to  see  so  beautiful  an  insect  alive.  1  forgot  to  men- 
tion it  was  taken  at  10.15  a.m.  Last  evening  my 
friend  Mr.  Goss  called  on  me,  bringing  Mr.  Gor- 
ringe,  of  Richmond-buildings,  with  him,  who  had 
that  afternoon,  about  three  o'clock,  taken  a  speci- 
men of  J),  pulchella  on  the  Race  Hill.  It  was  still 
alive,  but  somewhat  worn,  as  though  it  had  been 
out  some  days.  It  is  rather  singular  that  on  the 
last  occasion  when  Pulchella  was  captured  near 
Brighton,  two  were  taken. — T.  IF.  IFonfor,  Brighton, 
Sept.  12, 1871. 

The  New  Elephant  Parasite.— Mr.  Walker, 
in  creating  the  genus  Idolocoris  for  this  insect,  is 
apparently  unaware  that  the  name  is  already  occu- 
pied, having  been  applied  to  a  genus  of  Hemiptera 
Heteroptera  by  Messrs.  Douglas  and  Scott,  in  their 
"  British  Hemiptera,"  published  in  1865.  As,  of 
course,  the  same  name  cannot  be  used  for  two 
different  genera  in  the  same  order  (or,  for  that 
matter,  in  the  class  Iusecta),  Idolocoris,  Walker, 
must  give  place  to  Idolocoris,  D.  &  S.,  and  some 
other  generic  name  be  used  for  the  Elephant  Para- 
site. I  therefore  propose  the  name  Phantasmo- 
coris.  I  should  not  have  written  to  you  on  this 
subject  had  I  not  seen,  from  Mr.  Richter's  note  in 
the  September  number,  that  the  name  Idolocoris  has 
not  been  withdrawn.— F.  Buchanan  White,  M.D. , 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


BOTANY. 


A  Protest. — I  cannot  but  protest  against  the 
practice  of  inserting  the  particular  locality  of  some 
rare  and  cherished  native  plant  for  the  benefit  of 
those  whose  first  object  would  be  to  secure,  for 
their  own  selfish  gratification,  the  plant,  root  and 
all.  We  must  look  to  you  to  perform  the  duty  of 
conservators  as  far  as  may  be  in  your  power.  Now 
it  is  somewhere  about  twenty  years  ago  since  I  had 
the  gratification  of  viewing  a  Bee  Orchis,  and  that 
in  North  Somersetshire,  and  I  would  rather  forego 
the  same  pleasure  for  the  remainder  of  my  days 
than  that  one  single  plant  should  be  wantonly 
plucked  from  its  native  soil  only  to  pine  away  and 
die.  I  know  a  wood,  too,  in  Somerset  where  I 
could  pluck  an  armful  of  the  Butterfly  Orchis,  so 
sweetly  perfumed ;  but  I  only  let  a  friend  or  two 
into  the  secret,  who  I  know  will  not  do  anything 
worse  than  pluck  a  head  or  two  for  their  parlour  vase, 
where  it  will  scent  the  room  for  five  or  six  days.  I 
wish  I  could  feel  "J.  S.  William  Durham's"  com- 
munication were  a  hoax. — Chas.  Delaney. 

White  Varieties  of  Plowers. —  Seeing  in 
Science-Gossip  some  notices  of  white  varieties,  I 
may  mention  that  I  have  found  the  following  albino 
specimens  this  season : — Agraphis  nutans  and  Ajuga 
reptans,  a  specimen  of  each.  Geranium  Robertianum 
in  plenty,  growing  with  the  typical  form.  In  this 
case  the  whole  plant  partook  of  the  albino  cha- 
racter; for  the  leaves  were  very  pale  green,  instead 
of  reddish,  as  is  usually  the  case.  Ouopordum 
acanthoides,  many  specimens.  In  all  the  above 
cases  the  typical  forms  were  close  at  hand.  Your 
correspondent  "  R.  B.  S."  (p.  201)  seems  to  think 
albinism  more  especially  connected  with  calcareous 
soils,  which  I  think  probable ;  but  the  above  were 
all  found  in  the  Wealden  district  of  Sussex,  where 
the  soil  is  clay  and  sand. — /.  R,  A.  Jenner. 

Pitcher-Plants. — The  most  curious,  perhaps, 
of  all  the  pitcher-plants  at  present  known  is  one 
which  has  hitherto  only  been  observed  in  India, 
growing  in  its  native  forests :  it  is  called  Dischidia 
Rafflesiana.  It  is  a  creeping  plant,  having  a  long, 
twining  stem,  which  is  destitute  of  leaves  until  near 
its  summit ;  and  this  may  be  a  hundred  or  more  feet 
from  the  roots,  on  which,  therefore,  it  can  scarcely 
depend  for  nourishment  by  absorption  of  fluid  from 
the  ground.  Its  supplies  of  moisture  from  a  tropical 
atmosphere  would  be  very  uncertain  if  there  were 
no  provision  for  storing  up  what  it  occasionally 
collects  ;  but  with  such  a  one  it  is  furnished.  The 
pitcher  seems  formed  of  a  leaf  with  its  edges  rolled 
towards  each  other  and  adherent ;  and  the  upper 
end  or  mouth  from  which  it  is  suspended  is  quite 
open,  and  adapted  to  receive  whatever  moisture 
may  descend  from  the  air,  whether  in  the  form  of 


rain  or  dew.  It  is  accordingly  always  found  to  con- 
tain a  considerable  quantity  of  fluid,  in  which  a 
number  of  small  black  ants  are  generally  seen. 
These  are  probably  attracted  by  it,  and  their  decom- 
position may,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Sarracenia,  render 
it  yet  most  nutritious  to  the  plant. 

But  the  most  curious  part  of  the  whole  apparatus 
is  a  tuft  of  absorbent  fibres  resembling  those  of  the 
roots  :  these  arc  prolonged  from  the  nearest  part  of 
the  branch,  or  even  from  the  stalk,  to  which  the 
pitcher  is  attached  and  spread  through  the  cavity. 
They  may  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  secondary 
roots,  serving  to  introduce  into  the  plant  the  fluid 
collected  in  the  curious  reservoirs,  which  may  be 
compared  to  the  stomachs  of  animals.— Carpenter, 
"  Vegetable  Physiology" 


Transmission  oe  Plants  by  Post.— Specimens 
of  living  plants  are  often  sent  to  me  by  post ;  and 
many  of  these,  although  they  may  only  have 
been  a  day  upon  the  road,  arrive  in  a  state  of  par- 
tial decomposition, .  from  the  fact  of  too  great  an 
amount  of  moisture  having  been  packed  up  with 
them.  Many  people  put  plants  into  small  tin  boxes, 
with  a  wet  rag,  or  a  piece  of  saturated  blotting- 
paper,  above  and  below  them ;  and  1  fancy  the 
plants  themselves  have  often  been  dipped  in  water 
as  well.  This  superabundance  of  wet  is  not  only 
unnecessary,  especially  in  tin  boxes,  but  it  rots  the 
plants.  Flowers  are  more  injured  than  leaves  ;  but 
both  turn  brown  and  die  directly  they  are  exposed 
to  the  air.  The  best  way  to  send  plants  is  undoubt- 
edly in  tin  boxes ;  but  the  plants  should  be  put  in 
when  perfectly  dry,  and  as  soon  as  possible  after 
being  gathered.  Many  plants  will  thus  keep  fresh 
for  several  days  ;  but,  if  they  should  be  somewhat 
faded,  they  will  generally  revive  in  water;  whereas, 
a  plant  that  has  been  packed  up  wet  will  seldom,  if 
ever,  do  so.  Tin  boxes,  however,  are  very  heavy  in 
a  letter,  and  many  people  prefer  to  send  specimens 
in  card  boxes.  When  this  is  done,  it  is  best  to 
close  up  the  opening  of  the  box  with  a  strip  of  gum 
paper,  which  prevents  too  much  evaporation  from 
the  plant.  Even  in  card  boxes  I  would  put  no  wet 
paper ;  but  if  it  is  thought  necessary  to  keep  the 
specimen  moist,  a  small  bit  of  wet  rag,  or  sponge, 
or  moss,  tied  round  the  cut  end  of  the  stalk,  will  be 
found  to  answer  every  purpose. — Robert  Holland. 

Trifolium  stellatum.— In  Rutter's  "History 
of  Somersetshire  "  it  is  stated  that  Trifolium  stel- 
latum grows  in  the  vicinity  of  Walton-in-Gordano, 
near  Bristol.  I  have  lately  sought  for  it  in  that 
neighbourhood  without  success.  Can  any  of  your 
readers  confirm  that  assertion,  or  has  any  one  found 
that  extremely  rare  plant  anywhere  in  England, 
except  in  the  only  locality  given  in  the  various 
Ploras;  i.  e.  Shoreham,  Sussex?— R.E.  Wilkinson, 
Penge,  Sept,  11. 


23G 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Eukze-Mites  (vol.  1868,  p.  49).— I  found  a 
colony  of  these  curious  little  animals  last  week  on 
Weybridge  Heath,  ou  some  furze  between  the 
station  aud  the  gate  leading  into  Mr.  Locke  King's 
property.  One  of  the  furze-bushes  was  partially 
enveloped  in  the  thick  web,  and  the  points  of  the 
shoots  were  red  with  the  numbers  of  mites  located 
upon  them.  I  was  too  hurried  to  be  able  to  see 
whether  the  characteristic  green  specimens  were 
present. — W.  W.  Spicer,  lichen  Abbas. 

Scale  of  the  Pike  (Esox  lucius). — During  the 
year  1866  we  figured  the  scale  of  the  pike  (fig.  71) ; 
but,  since  then,  we  have  figured  so  many  of  the 
scales  of  our  British  fishes  that  we  look  with  less 
satisfaction  on  the  scale  there  engraved,  and,  con- 


Fig.  142.  Scale  of  Pike. 

sequently,  have  now  added  the  pike  to  this  latter 
series,  not  only  larger,  but,  as  we  think,  better  done. 
The  few  remaining  of  our  British  fresh-water  fishes 
we  shall  be  glad  to  add  to  this  series,  as  soon  as  we 
obtain  authentic  scales. 

Slides  foe  Opaque  Objects.—  We  have  received 
from  Mr.  H.  P.  Aylward,  of  Manchester,  a  sample 
of  wooden  slides  which  he  has  prepared  for  mount- 
ing opaque  objects.  These  slips  are  of  hard  wood, 
3x1  inches,  with  a  countersunk  cell,  of  variable 
size.  The  upper  edge  of  the  cell  is  grooved  for  the 
glass  to  fall  in,  and  this  is  fixed  in  its  place  by  means 
of  an  adhesive  paper  ring.  The  slides  are  neatly 
finished,  and  when  the  object  is  mounted  it  has  a 


very  neat  appearance.  The  slides  are  finished  so  as 
not  to  require  papering,  and,  we  doubt  not,  will 
form  a  useful  adjunct  to  the  materials  of  the 
amateur  mounter.  Further  particulars  may  be 
obtained  from  the  designer  of  these  slides,  at 
No.  15,  Cotham  Street,  Strangeways,  Manchester. 

Microscopists  who  are  tired  of  their  own  round 
of  objects  and  observations,  will  find  during  the 
autumn  some  very  pretty  little  cup-shaped  fungi, 
mostly  hairy,  and  often  yellow,  growing  on  the  old 
excrement  of  various  animals,  as  the  horse,  cow, 
ass,  rabbit,  sheep,  &c.  These  are  just  visible  to 
the  naked  eye,  of  a  fleshy  substance,  and  may 
easily  be  made  to  show  their  internal  structure 
by  pressure  on  the  slide.  The  sporidia,  when  fully 
matured,  are  very  often  of  a  beautiful  amethystine 
purple.  These  objects  are  described  under  the 
name  of  Ascobolus,  and  may  be  mounted  in  the  same 
manner  as  described  for  Peziza,  in  a  communication 
made  at  the  August  meeting  of  the  Quekett  Micro- 
scopical Club.  Though  found  in  such  company, 
the  collector  need  be  under  no  apprehension  of 
anything  disgusting,  since  the  excreta  become  old  and 
washed  before  the  Ascoboli  make  their  appearance. 

Wiiat  to  look  foe. — Will  botanists,  when  out 
on  their  excursions,  look  for  the  following  micro- 
scopic fungi : — A  brand  m  Pucciuia  on  the  leaves  of 
the  common  tansy  {Tanacetum  vulgare) ;  a  parasitic 
fungus  on  the  leaves  of  Bupleurutu  ;  a  cluster-cup 
(jEcidium)  on  the  leaves  of  Parnassia  palustris  ;  an 
orange  rust  on  the  leaves  of  Empetrum  nigrum ;  a 
brand  {Pucciuia)  on  the  leaves  of  Chrysospleniuui 
oppiositifolium,  hitherto  only  found  by  Dr.  Greville  ; 
a  bright  orange  Uredo  on  the  leaves  of  Euonymus 
europceus  ;  a  rusty  Pucciuia  on  the  under  surface  of 
the  leaves  of  Arctium  lappa  ;  similar  rust  on  the 
leaves  of  Polygonum  Bistorta ;  a  Pucciuia  on  the 
leaves  of  Sedum  Rhodiola  ;  and  a  parasite,  much  re- 
sembling an  Uredo,  on  the  leaves  of  the  common 
houseleek.  If  any  of  these  are  found,  will  the  finder 
of  them  send  specimen  and  particulars  to  the 
"  Author  of  the  '  Handbook  of  British  Eungi,'  "  at 
the  office  of  this  journal. 

Amplification.— Great  advantage  would  it  be  if 
microscopists  would  invariably  put  under  every  dia- 
gram of  objects  the  number  of  times  magnified.  In 
many  cases,  especially  perhaps  in  Mr.  Gosse's  work, 
"Evenings  at  the  Microscope,"  do  I  find  sketches 
of  objects  seen  which  are,  after  all,  only  within  reach 
of  those  who  own  the  very  highest  powers — not  to 
be  seen  by  those  who  possess  objectives  of  only,  say, 
300  diameter  power.  To  those  who  have  a  good 
microscope  with  1-inch  and  i-inch  objectives  it  is 
tantalizing  to  see  pictures  of  objects  to  see  which 
the  very  high  powers  are  required ;  and  frequently, 
perhaps,  the  young  microscopist  tries  to  see  what  is 
figured  in  the  book  and  is  utterly  disappointed  and 
disheartened.— F.  A.  F. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


237 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Bait  for  Soles.— Can  any  of  your  readers  tell 
what  bait  soles  will  take  ?  I  often  fish  where  soles 
are  plentiful ;  but  though  we  take  almost  all  other 
kinds  of  fish  found  near  the  coast,  we  never  catch 
soles ;  and  yet  if  we  trawl  over  the  same  ground 
with  a  net,  we  catch  plenty.  The  baits  used  are 
generally  sand-eels,  or  the  worms  found  in  the  sand- 
banks when  the  tide  is  out.— C.  L.  J. 

Is  it  the  Squirrel  ?— Is  it  not  a  pity  to  pro- 
mulgate against  one  of  our  most  beautiful  little 
animals  so  serious  a  charge,  upon  evidence  so  un- 
substantial as  that  of  your  correspondent  under 
the  signature  of  Barbara  Wallace  Pyl'e,  p.  1S9, 
No.  80,  August,  1871  ?  The  lady  herself  does  not 
profess  to  have  had  personal_  proof,  or  even  to  have 
heard  before  of  the  damaging  accusation,  only  a 
gentleman  remarkable  for  susceptibility  for  the 
feelings  of  all  animal  life,  those  of  the  female  of  his 
own  species  apparently  excepted,  brought  to  her 
feet  a  bleeding  misshapen  mass,  "the  exquisite 
native  of  our  woods,"  with  whose  activity  and 
agility  she  was  at  the  very  moment  enraptured,  ex- 
claiming, "  I  am  sorry  you  have  shown  it  me ;  the 
squirrels  have  eaten  so  many  of  my  pheasants' 
eggs  ;"  making  her  the  betrayer  to  death  of  the 
object  of  her  admiration.  We  hear  of  no  ocular  or 
circumstantial  evidence  the  gentleman  had  experi- 
enced as  to  the  fact ;  and  the  keepers  seem  to  be 
in  no  better  case.  "The  eggs  suffered  very  much 
from  their  depredations  last  spring,  and  the  keepers 
had  great  trouble  with  them"  (the  squirrels).  A 
ghost  story  would  not  go  down  upon  such  evidence 
as  this.  Look  at  the  chain.  A  lady  writes:  "A 
ghost  has  been  at  mischief;  she  saw  it?  No;  a 
gentleman  told  her.  Did  he  see  it  at  work  ?  No ; 
the  gamekeepers  told  him.  Did  the_  gamekeepers 
witness  this  act  ?  No ;  but  depredations  were  fre- 
quent; so  it  must  be  the  ghost."  With  all  our  social 
science,  anomalies  will  cling  to  the  world  ;  commo- 
dities are  purchasable,  which  nobody  ever  thinks 
of  selling.  The  old  hedgehog  is  dead,  nailed  to 
a  barn,  years  ago,  among  other  "vermin,"  still 
depredations  go  on,  and  there  is  nothing  now  left 
but  the  squirrel.  It  may  be  asked,  if  the  Thrush 
can  hold  its  own  against  the  Squirrel,  what  were 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pheasant  (one  blow  from  whose  beaks 
could  break  a  squirrel's  back)  about  to  permit 
these  depredations  ?— George  Cox. 

British  Jelly  Pishes.—"  W.  B.  L."  wants  to 
know  of  some  manual  containing  descriptions  of  all 
the  British  species. 

The  Small  Eggar  (JEriogaster  lanestris). — In 
accordance  with  my  promise  in  the  September 
number,  I  now  relate  the  fate  of  my  larvae  of  the 
above  moth,  this  season.  The  brood,  forty-seven 
in  number,  were  found  on  June  22nd  and  taken 
home  the  following  day.  They  were  nearly  all  full- 
grown,  and,  with  the  exception  of  four,  had  changed 
skins  for  the  last  time,  and  were  in  the  rich  brown 
and  golden  substance  which  makes  these  caterpillars 
so  conspicuous  when  feeding  gregariously  on  the 
hedgerow.  I  dispersed  them  in  three  separate 
breeding-cages,  each  on  a  different  principle,  and 
for  a  few  days  all  went  well.  However,  on  July 
6th  one  died  ;  and  on  the  next  day  three  more.  In 
this  manner  they  dropped  off,  a  few  each  day,  until 
the  27th,  when  all  that  remained  were  two  sickly 
larvae  and  three  cocoons.    The  latter  I  opened  a 


few  days  ago  and  found  they  were  but  coffins ;  for 
the  larvae  inside  were  defunct.  The  disease  is  cer- 
tainly not  the  ravages  of  true  ichneumons,  for  I 
could  not  find  traces  of  them  in  the  several  larva;  I 
dissected  ;  even  when  placed  under  a  low  power  of 
a  microscope  and  carefully  examined,  no  parasites 
were  visible.  The  intestines  were  shrunk  and  dried 
up  in  some  instances,  but  not  destroyed  in  any  of 
the  larvae.  I  agree  with  Mr.  Clifford  in  thinking 
it  must  be  a  disease  which  thins  down  this  interest- 
ing species;  but  although  it  is  a  delicate  larva,  I 
see  no  reason  for  its  rapid  destruction  in  captivity, 
and  the  cause  of  [the  singular  mortality  has  yet  to 
be  discovered. — /.  Henderson,  Reading. 

Protective  R.esemblance. — Some  birds  are 
screened  from  the  pursuit  of  their  enemies  by  an 
arrangement  of  colours  happily  assimilated  to  the 
places  which  they  most  frequent,  and  where  they 
find  either  food  or  repose.  Thus  the  Wryneck  is 
scarcely  to  be  distinguished  from  the  bark  of  the 
tree  on  which  it  feeds ;  or  the  Snipe  from  the 
moist  and  mossy  ground  by  the  springs  of  water 
which  it  frequents ;  the  Great  Plover  finds  its  chief 
security  in  stony  places,  to  which  its  colours  are 
so  nicely  adapted  that  the  most  exact  observer  may 
be  very  easily  deceived.  The  attentive  ornithologist 
will  not  fail  to  discover  numerous  instances  of  this 
kind,  such  as  the  Partridge,  Plover,  Quail,  &c— Be- 
icick,  "  Introd.  British  Birds." 

Kestrel's  Egg.— On  attempting  to  wipe  off 
some  dirt  from  the  egg  of  a  kestrel  (Falco  thpmn- 
culus)  which  recently  came  into  my  possession,  I 
found  that  the  colour  came  off.  The  Rev.  P.  O. 
Morris  mentions  a  similar  instance  in  his  "  Nests 
and  Eggs  of  British  Birds,"  and  I  am  also  told  that 
the  same  thing  occurs  with  regard  to  the  Hobby 
{Falco  sublnteus).  Is  this  generally  the  case? — 
C.  II.  G. 

Goldfish. — In  the  beginning  of  June  last  I  pur- 
chased two  small  goldfish,  and  soon  after  placing 
them  in  a  globe,  containing  not  more  than  one  gal- 
lon of  water  and  a  fine  healthy  plant  of  the  Valis- 
neria  spiralis,  I  observed  that  one  of  the  fish  had 
lost  quite  half  the  caudal  or  tail-fin;  this  has  since 
grown,  and  the  tail  is  now  quite  perfect.  The  water 
has  not  been  changed  since  June. — -/.  B. 

Anecdotes  twice  told. — As  "  Helen  E.  Wat- 
ney "  affixed  her  name  to  the  "  anecdotes "  in 
"Country  Life,"  as  well  as  to  those  in  Science- 
Gossip,  she  could  scarcely  have  supposed  that 
"  J.  J."  intended  to  accuse  her  of  "  cribbing."  If 
she  will  refer  to  the  editorial  note  on  p.  81  of 
Science-Gossip  for  1S65,  she  will  see  the  editor's 
objection  to  "crambe  repetita."  There  are  other 
discrepancies  in  the  two  versions  of  the  anecdotes 
which  it  is  not  necessary  to  particularize.  A  re- 
ference to  Science-Gossip,  1867,  p.  179,  and 
"  Country  Life,"  186S,  p.  237,  will  show  a  second, 
though  less  obvious,  case  of  "twice-cooked  cabbage." 
—J.J. 

PelopyEtjs,  or  Sand-wasp.— An  American  genus 
(Pelopaeus)  is  called  the  Dauber,  from  its  singular 
habit  of  placing  its  nest  of  mud  against  the  walls 
and  ceilings  in  the  interior  of  houses.  When  finished 
these  nests  look  like  handfuls  of  clay  which  have 
been  thrown  up  at  random  and  adhered  ;  but  in- 
wardly they  contain  very  smooth  and  regular  cells, 
each  containing  a  grub  and  a  dozen  or  more  of 
spiders.    The  construction  of  these  nests,  which  we 


238 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


have  observed  with  great  minuteness,  is  performed  ' 
by  the  Dauber  bringing  little  pellets  of  clay  in  her 
mouth,  about  as  large  as  peas,  one  after  another, 
which  she  spreads  and  arranges  with  her  jaws.  Pre- 
viously to  closing  up,  she  lays  an  eg?  in  the  bottom, 
and  places  over  it  from  twelve  to  eighteen  spiders, 
not  killed,  but  rendered  helpless.  The  grub  spends 
its  life  in  this  dark  and  solitary  prison,  and  when 
full-grown,  having  eaten  the  abdomens  of  all,  or 
nearly  all,  the  spiders,  forms  an  oval  cocoon  of  a 
brittle  substance,  and  goes  into  pupa.  The  perfect 
fly,  when  evolved,  gnaws  its  way  through  the  mud- 
walls  with  its  strong  jaws,  and  for  the  first  time 
beholds  the  light. — P.  H.  Gosse,  "Introduction  to 
Zoology." 

Cells  in  Coleus. — I  have  been  examining  the 
variegated  leaves  of  Coleus.  Having  removed  the 
cuticle  by  boiling  them  in  potash,  I  found  very 
curious  coloured  cells  in  the  tissue  of  the  leaf. 
These  cells  have  all  the  appearance  of  unicellular 
alga;,  such  as  Protococcus.  There  is  a  hyaline 
margin,  and  the  protoplasis  within  is  divided  into 
several,  generally  four,  parts.  They  are  very  inter- 
esting under  a  high  power,  and  vary  in  shade  from 
yellow  to  red.  Is  anything  known  about  them  ? 
Are  they  algse,  or  merely  cells  in  a  diseased  state? 
And  is  the  variegated  cuticle  produced  by  them,  or 
are  they  coloured  by  the  cuticle  ?—T.  Hotcse. 

Tiie  Woodruff. — I  was  much  surprised,  as  may 
also  be  the  readers  of  Science-Gossip,  to  find  the 
Woodruff  {Asperula)  described  as  a  bird,  thus  : — 

"  Hig-h  soars  the  lark  to  greet  the  morn, 
The  woodrvff  softly  calls  its  mate." 

This  couplet  occurs  in  a  piece  of  verse  entitled 
"The  Wishing  Gate,"  printed  in  London-  Society, 
p.  216.  It  might  pass  for  a  printer's  error ;  but  I 
think  the  author  means  the  "ring-dove"  {Colic, aha 
palumbus),  and  that,  missing  the  right  name,  he 
stumbled  on  its  synonym,  "wood-pigeon,"  which 
would  have  made  his  line  a  foot  too  long.  He  then 
mentally  substitutes  "wood-dove,"  and  conscious 
of  its  not  sounding  quite  right,  he  effaces  the  wrong 
half  of  the  name  by  substituting  ruff  for  ring.— 
A.  II. 

A  Plague  of  Plies. — I  have  omitted  hitherto 
to  make  more  than  passing  allusion  to  the  annoying 
plague  of  flies  which  still  exists  in  Egypt  to  a  most 
unp.'easant  extent;  but  I  fee!  it  is  utterly  impos- 
sible to  convey  to  my  readers  any  idea  of  the  serious 
inconvenience  which  the  perpetual  attack  of  count- 
less legions  of  flies  can  cause.  It  must  be  endured 
to  be  appreciated  at  its  real  value  ;  and  even  with 
the  very  vivid  recollections  I  have  of  the  positive 
misery  occasioned  thereby,  it  seems  to  me — sitting 
here  in  peace  and  undisturbed,  as  I  reflect  upon  it— 
almost  incredible  how  much  we  were  sometimes 
worried  by  these  most  tormentiug  insects.  During 
the  hotter  portions  of  our  tour  they  abounded  to 
t  hat  extent,  and  were  so  persevering  in  their  attacks, 
as  to  drive  us  almost  frantic  at  the  irritation.  Oc- 
casionally we  would  start  up  maddened  with  the 
annoyance,  and  make  a  furious  onslaught  with  our 
respective  fly-whisks,  and  try  to  clear  the  cabin  of 
our  tormentors;  but  no  sooner  did  we  sit  down  ex- 
hausted and  hot,  than  our  diminutive  foes  appeared 
in  undiminished  numbers,  and  returned  to  the  charge 
in  vengeance  for  their  slaughtered  brethren.  I 
believe  the  Nile  mud,  prolific  of  animal  as  of  vege- 
table life,  is  the  fertile  bed  from  whence  these  count- 
less mvriads  spring  into  being. — Rev.  A.  C.  Smith, 
"  The  'Nile  and  its  Banks."  . 


Hawks  and  Glass  Windows.— I  have  known 
one  instance  of  a  hawk  following  a  small  bird 
through  a  glass  window  into  a  dwelling-house.  The 
bird  (a  finch)  fell  dead  outside  the  window,  but  the 
hawk,  a  larger  creature,  came  with  greater  force 
against  the  glass,  and  dashed  through  one  of  the 
panes,  was  badly  cut,  secured,  but  died.  I  believe 
it  is  by  no  means  an  uncommon  thing  for  hawks 
and  other  birds  to  be  deceived  by  glass  and  fly  vio- 
lently against  it.— II.  E.  W. 

Names  of  the  Borage  in  Foreign  Lan- 
guages.— I  am  informed  that  this  plant  is  quite  as 
often  called  borrana  as  borragine  in  Italy;  and 
again  in  Spain  it  is  known  as  horrada  as  well  as 
borraja ;  borretsch  in  German;  bemagie  and  ber- 
nasie  by  the  Dutch ;  whereas,  if  you  go  to  Poland, 
you  will  find  it  by  the  title  of  borate. — Helen  K 
Watney. 

OakEggar  {Bombyx  Querciis). — Perhaps  the  fol- 
lowing notes  relative  to  the  time  of  appearance  of 
B.  Quercus  may  interest,  or  be  of  use  to  your  corre- 
spondent Mr.  Warner,  and  also  Mr.  J.  Henderson. 
I  extract  from  my  Diary  the  earliest  dates  that  I 
have  taken  the  larva;  of  this  moth  for  the  last  few 
years : — This  year  I  took  from  a  whitethorn  three 
fine  larva;  on  April  24th ;  last  year  my  first  were 
taken  on  May  15th,  when  I  took  eight  almost  full-fed ; 
in  1869  I  took  three  on  April  21st ;  in  1868  four  on 
April  23rd;  and  in  1867  two  on  May  16th  — 
R.  L.  N. 

Ragwort  (p.  215). — Many  thanks  for  calling  my 
attention  to  the  stupid  mistake  I  made  last  month 
about  this  plant.  Por  Tussilago  Farfarave&d  Senecio 
JacobcPct. — G.  II.  II. 

Squirrel  versus  Missel-Thrush,  (p.  214).— The 
Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  in  one  of  his  interesting  works 
on  natural  history,  says  that  numerous  cases  have 
established  the  fact  that  the  Squirrel  at  times  takes 
a  fancy  for  animal  food ;  and  that  it  has  been 
known  to  eat  both  eggs  and  young  birds,  and  even 
mice,  killing  its  live  game  in  weasel  style  by  a  bite 
at  the  back  of  the  neck — G.  H.  H. 

Peculiarity  of  a  Hen  Canary. — I  have  a  two- 
year-old  hen  canary,  kept  in  solitary  confinement, 
which  has,  during  the  present  summer,  laid  nine 
eggs  in  succession,  with  about  ten  days'  interval  be- 
tween each,  about  half  of  them  being  shell-less. 
Instances  have  been  recorded  of  hen-birds,  in  such 
circumstances,  dropping  one  or  two;  but  I  fancy 
such  a  number  is  unusual.  Perhaps  some  of  your 
readers  may  have  noted  a  similar  circumstance. — 
J.  R.  S.  C. 

The  Orange-tip  Butterfly  (p.  208). — I  have 
also  observed  that  a  small  proportion  only  of  the 
females  of  this  species  are  seen  on  the  wing;  I  do 
not  know  whether  my  own  estimate  would  be  quite 
the  same  as  that  of  Mr.  Henderson.  I  fancy,  in 
my  experience,  the  capture  of  females  has  been  in  a 
slightly  larger  proportion  than  he  puts  it.  How- 
ever, it  suffices  as  to  the  fact ;  and  it  has  happened 
in  cases  where  the  entomologist  has  netted  all  the 
Whites  which  came  within  reach,  to  make  sure  that 
none  were  passed  by.  In  many  instances  where 
females  are  taken,  they  are  roused  from  the  herbage 
by  the  tread  of  the  entomologist,  and  I  suspect  they 
fly  very  little,  unless  compelled.  Another  thing  I 
may  note,— that  1  have  never  seen  these  butterflies 
paired  ou  the  wing,  which  is  a  circumstance  so  usual 
in  other  species.    I  have  a  very  diminutive  female 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


239 


in  my  possession,  measuring  barely  one  inch.  The 
Orange-tip  is  usually  regarded  as  an  April  butterfly, 
and  so  it  is  in  many  districts,  but  not  in  others. 
Between  the  north  and  south  of  London  there  will 
be  sometimes  a  difference  of  a  month  in  the  time  of 
emergence.  It  is  a  species  which  rarely  continues 
out  for  any  length  of  time,  though  in  a  Hertfordshire 
district,  where  vegetation  is  often  backward,  and 
therefore  insects  also,  I  have  seen  Orange-tips  flying 
about  at  the  end  of  June. — /.  R.  S.  C. 

DEIOrEIA     PULCHELLA     IN      DEVONSHIRE.  —  Oil 

Friday,  the  8th  of  September,  I  captured  a 
fine  specimen  of  that  exceedingly  rare  moth  the 
Crimson-speckled  (Deiopeia  pulchella),  of  which 
there  are  but  few  (British)  examples  known.  On 
entering  my  garden,  I  observed  a  moth  start  rather 
wildly  from  a  plant  of  the  Heliotrope,  and  flying 
quickly  for  about  twenty  yards  (not  heeding  any 
other  flowers  in  its  way),  it  settled  on  the  blossom 
of  another  plant  of  the  same  kind.  At  first  sight 
it  had  much  the  appearance  of  a  small  Garden 
"White  butterfly ;  but,  from  a  peculiarity  in  its 
flight,  I  knew  it  must  be  something  different,  and, 
on  approaching  it  cautiously,  I  saw  at  a  glance  what 
it  really  was,  rushed  into  the  house  for  my  net,  and 
captured  it.  "When  at  rest,  it  looked  long  and  nar- 
row, with  its  wings  (I  think)  folded  round  its  body, 
giving  it  much  the  appearance  of  a  large  grass 
moth ;  and,  from  what  I  could  observe  of  its  habits, 
it  seemed  to  be  rather  wild  (or  wary),  and  to  prefer 
the  Heliotrope  to  any  other  garden  flower,  of  which 
there  was  a  great  variety.  On  the  Continent  the 
moth  is  said  to  be  found  in  stubble-fields,  and  the 
caterpillar  (which  has  never  been  found  in  this 
country)  to  feed  on  the  field  Forget-me-not  {Myosotis 
arvensis). — J".  Gatcomhe,  Stonehouse,  Devon. 

Cleaning  Skeletons. — As  a  good  deal  has  ap- 
peared lately  in  Science-Gossip  on  the  employ- 
ment of  ants  in  the  preparation  of  skeletons  of  small 
animals,  I  may  mention  an  experiment  I  made  some 
years  ago  on  the  necrophagous  propensities  of  the 
common  kitchen  cockroach  (Blatta  orientalis), 
better  known  as  the  "  black  beetle."  Conceiving 
that  one  cockroach  would  do  more  work  than  a 
score  of  ants,  I  shot  a  sparrow,  plucked  it,  and  laid 
it  in  a  shallow  tray  on  the  floor  of  the  kitchen  in  the 
house  I  then  occupied.  On  the  first  night  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  the  flesh  was  removed,  laying 
the  ribs  bare  ;  the  second  night  more  was  eaten,  but 
not  so  much  as  on  the  first  occasion,  and  the  third 
night  it  was  untouched.  Thinking  it  probable  that 
the  cockroaches  objected  to  meat  being  too  dry,  I 
dipped  the  half-eaten  bird  into  water,  and  the  insects 
renewed  their  meal.  The  result  was  that  I  obtained 
an  imperfectly  cleaned  skeleton,  which,  had  it  been 
placed  in  an  ants'  nest  would,  I  doubt  not,  have 
been  finished  off  satisfactorily.  Employing  cock- 
roaches would  have  the  advantage  of  the  work  being 
done  at  home  and  under  inspection,  and  if  a  score 
or  so  were  caught  and  kept  in  a  basin  or  box  they 
might  be  put  on  duty  during  the  day,  and  so  shorten 
the  time  required.  Ants  would  probably  do  the 
final  polishing  more  neatly  than  the  larger  insects. 
1  also  made  an  attempt  to  collect  wasps  for  the 
same  purpose,  but  they  quickly  died  in  confinement. 
— George  Guyon,  Ventnor,  Isle  of  Wight. 

'Erratum. — At  p.  1S4  of  your  August  number 
there  is  a  slight  typographical  error  in  a  short  para- 
graph you  were  good  enough  to  insert  respecting 
the  Hawfinch.  Herefordshire  should  stand  Hert- 
fordshire,— Charles  Ashford. 


Hawfinch. — As  another  locality  in  which  the 
Hawfinch  has  been  known  to  occur,  I  may  mention 
that,  last  year,  two  young  ones  were  taken  from  a 
nest  built  in  a  small  wood  near  Hitchin,  Herts,  one 
of  which  was  caged  and  successfully  reared. — W. 
Nash,  Hitchin. 

Gnaphaltum. — I  shall  be  much  obliged  if  any 
reader  of  Science-Gossip  will  tell  me  the  best 
method  of  drying  the  Gnaphaliums,  or  Everlasting 
Flowers,  so  that  in  the  winter  they  may  retain 
the  peculiar  firmness  which  is  in  the  Immortelles, 
and  other  Everlastings,  when  they  are  sold  in  shops. 
-S.  M.  P. 

Floral  Stars. — "  A.  E."  wishes  to  correct  an 
error.    In  writing  of  the  flower  of  the  Anemone 

nemorosa,  the  word  petals  was  used  where  it  should 
have  been  sepals. 

Procession ary  Moths.— I  presume  I  have  made 
a  mistake  regarding  the  Processionary  Caterpillars, 
which  probably  are  Gold-tails  after  all.  Please  to 
understand  that  I  am  no  entomologist,  but  only  a 
poor  unlucky  gardener,  and  shall  be  very  thankful 
to  any  of  your  correspondents  who  will  suggest 
a  mode  of  destroying  these  horrid  pests.  Should 
there  be  any  nests  next  year,  I  shall  be  happy  to 
send  specimens,  all  alive  and  crawling,  to  any 
address.— Julia  Colson. 

Borrago  (p.214): — Thinking  I  had  made  some 
mistake  in  transcribing  the  words  which  Mr.  Ernst 
says  are  erroneous,  I  was  led  to  consult  several  dic- 
tionaries, and  I  give  the  results  of  my  research. 
For  his  Italian  borraggine,  I  find  Borraqine,  Borrana, 
Florio  _  ("  Worlde  of  Wordes,"  1598) ;  Borrdgiue, 
Baretti  (edition  1854) ;  Borrace,  Borragine,  Bor- 
rana, "  Yoeabolario  degli  Academici  della  Crusca" 
(1729) ;  for  his  Spanish  Borraja,  I  find  that  Baretti 
(1786)  and  Caballero  ("  Diccionario  general  de  la 
Lengua  Castellana,  1856)  give  the  same ;  but  there 
is  Borrd.va,  Connelly  and  Higgins,  Diet.  (1798),  and 
Borraxa,  the  Dictionary  of  the  Spanish  Academy 
(1726).  It  seems  that  the  botanical  work  I  con- 
sulted was  wrong  in  giving  Burraja,  which  has  a 
very  different  meaning.  In  the  matter  of  the  Por- 
tuguese form,  of  course,  Mr.Ernstis  correct;  though, 
besides  Borragem,  a  Portuguese  dictionary  (1701) 
gives  Borragens.  As  might  have  beeu  expected, 
Mr.  Ernst's  corrections  of  my  botanical  authority, 
in  the  case  of  the  last  two  languages,  are  right ;  but 
in  the  case  of  the  first,  1  think  the  authorities  are 
equal.  The  only  Arabic  word  for  the  plant  which 
I  have  been  able  to  find  is  derived  by  Freytag 
(Diet.,  vol.  iv.  102b)  (Borago  verrucosa),  from  the 
root  lasiha,  adhresit. — B.T.,  M.A. 

The  Bee  Orchis  (p.  215).— This  interesting 
plant  I  have  found  near  this  town,  and  also  near 
Milborne  Port,  by  the  roadside  ;  but  I  have  never 
seen  more  than  a  few  specimens  in  a  season.  A 
search  in  some  of  our  pastures,  however,  would 
probably  prove  it  to  be  anything  but  an  uncommon 
plant  in  this  neighbourhood. — W.  Macmillan,  Castle 
Cary,  Somerset. 

White  Varieties  (p.  191). — In  walking  along 
the  road  to  Cole  Ptailway  station  from  this  town, 
the  Herb  Robert,  with  white  blossoms,  is  seen  in 
abundance.  White  specimens  of  the  Wild  Hya- 
cinth are  not  rare ;  and  the  white  variety  of  the 
Sweet  Violet  is  often  more  abundant  than  the  blue. 
— W.  Macmillan,  Castle  Cary,  Somerset. 


240 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


All  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  he 
addressed  to  the  Publisher.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  can  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer, not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  them. 


H.  J.  M.  T. — It  was  simply  dried  up  for  lack  of  moisture. 
The  situation  was  too  dry. 

F.  H.  C. — We  cannot  speculate  on  such  a  point.  Natural 
history  deals  with  hard  facts  and  objects.  We  must  see  to 
know. 

W.  B.  L. — The  only  work  is  published  by  Van  Voorst,  en- 
titled "  British  Sessile-eyed  Crustacea." 

S.  B.— See  articles  on  "Phosphorescence  of  the  Sea,"  in 
Science-Gossip  for  1865  and  1866. 

H.  W. — Reptiles  do  not  require  feeding  in  winter. 

U.  S. — The  question  is  too  vague. 

W.  H. — Similar  attacks  of  wasps  are  noted  in  previous 
volumes. 

H.  L.  M. — We  cannot  possibly  name  a  caterpillar  from  de- 
scription. 

H.  P.  A.— It  is  a  pseudo-scorpion  (Clielifer). 

F.  M.  and  J.  F. — We  have  figured  and  described  these  galls 
on  oak  leaves  in  our  volume  for  1866,  p.  228.  Yet  some  one 
sends  them  nearly  every  month. 

A.  C. — It  is  the  common  Scleroderma  vulgar e. 

F.  W. — If  you  were  a  member  of  the  Quekett  Club,  and 
went  on  the  excursions,  you  would  obtain  plenty  of  these 
things. 

R.  S.— We  are  informed  that  Mr.  Bolton,  of  Hyde  House, 
Stourbridge,  supplies  microscopists  with  living  specimens  of 
Stephanoceros,  Floscularia,  &c. 

W.  McL. — Yon  will  obtain  every  information  you  desire  of 
Mr.  C.  Collins,  No.  ~~,  Great  Titchfield  Street,  London. 

Field  Clubs. — We  intend  publishing  a  list  as  soon  as  we 
receive  titles  and  names  of  secretaries,  with  their  addresses, 
in  sufficient  number. 

E.  W. — The  "  zoophyte  "  is  Diphasia  rosacea,  with  female 
capsules. 

W.  S.  W.  E.— 1.  No,  not  satisfactorily.  2.  What  is  the 
author's  name  ? 

Querists  will  find  no  answer  if  they  neglect  to  send  name 
and  address. 

F.  A.  F. — We  are  not  aware  that  it  has  been  made  for  sale 
by  any  one. 

C.  D. — We  cannot  name  with  certainty.  You  should  rear 
them. 

C.  D.  (Dublin).— It  is  a  young  Goat-moth  caterpillar. 

M.  S.  H.  H. — Turning  them  over  and  airing  them  very 
often,  constantly  moving  them,  keeping  dry,  and  keeping 
camphor  with  them. 

F.  R.  M.— The  "Old  Lady  "  (Mania  maura). 

H.  H.  J. — Too  much  shrivelled  for  identification. 

J.  D.-We  will  do  our  best  to  satisfy  you. 

M.  A.  J.— 1.  Scirpus  (Isolepis)  fuitans,  L.  2.  Anthemis 
arrrnsis,  L. — J.  B, 

H.J. — 1.  Leontorlnn  hispidus,  L.  (Apargia  hispida,  Wild.) . 
2.  Filago  germanicu,  L. —  J.  B. 

R.  B. — Scirpus  multicaulis,  Sm.—  J.  B. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.— Only  one  "  Exchange"  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britain)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Mrs.  Heating's  address  is  to  the  care  of  Miss  Motherwell, 
11,  Princes  Gardens,  Hyde  Park. 


Recent  Plants  of  Lemna  polyrhiza  are  wanted  for  dried 
plants,  or  objects  for  the  microscope. — T.  P.  Fernie,  Kimbol- 
ton. 

For  Fronds  of  Ferns,  showing  fructification,  send 
stamped  envelope  and  any  object  of  interest,  to  G.  Bowen,  95, 
Hampton  Street,  Birmingham. 

Very  fine  specimens  of  Ianthina,  with  animal  perfect,  for 
slides  of  palates  of  any  molluscs,  except  Littorina  Buccimem 
or  Patella.—  R.  W.  Battersby,  Glendalough,  Corragh  Lake, 
P.O.,  Killamey. 

Eggs,  Moths,  and  Butterflies  wanted  ;  30  good  objects 
sent  in  exchange.— W.  Holmes,  St.  Faith's  Street,  Maidstone. 

For  V.  polychloros,  please  send  list  of  duplicate  lepido- 
ptera. — John  Purdue,  Plympton,  Devon. 

British  Birds'  Eggs  for  exchange,  lists  in  return.— Ad- 
dress, R.  G.  S.,  Sedgefield,  Ferryhill. 

Paste  Eels  (living)  offered  for  other  good  objects. — C.  D., 
18",  Oxford  Street,  Mile  End,  E. 

Fungi,  Mosses.  &c.  unmounted,  for  objects  of  interest 
unmounted. — H.  D.,  Claremont  House,  Waterloo,  Liverpool. 

Stnchys  germanica,  Galensoga  parviflora,  Erigeron  eana- 
dense,  Lepidium  ruderule,  &c,  in  exchange  for  other  rare 
British  plants. — Alfred  French,  15,  Cherwell  Street,  Banbury, 

Polyzoa  and  Hydroida,  exchange  wanted  with  foreign 
correspondents. — E.  C.  J.,  care  of  the  Editor. 

Veronica  triphyllos,  Gentiana  verna,  &c.,  in  exchange  for 
other  British  plants.— George  Webster,  Holgate  Nursery, 
York. 

Microscopic  Slides  of  Diatomacese,  &c,  in  exchange 
for  plants  of  Beech,  Oak,  or  Parsley  Ferns,  or  rare  English 
or  exotic  ferns.— Address,  E.,  8,  Gatteridge  Street,  Banbury. 

Semele,  Hyperanthns,  Sybella  (worn),  Taphia,  Corydon, 
Pyramidaa,  Promissa,  Sponsa. — Accepted  offers  answered  in 
a  few  days. — H.  A.  Auld,  The  Grove,  Blackheath. 

Lichens  for  Fungi. — W.  Phillips,  Canonbury,  Kingsland, 
Shrewsbury. 

Eggs  of  Crane-Fly  for  stamped  envelope  and  object  of 
microscopical  interest. — J.  Sargent.,  Jun.,  Fritchley,  near 
Derby. 

Soundings,  rich  in  foraminifera,  from  the  (two)  English 
and  Frensh  Atlantic  cables,  French  Mediterranean  cable,  and 
Brazilian,  for  good  mounted  objects.— Captain  Perry,  42, 
Spellow  Lane,  Liverpool. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,"  for  September,  1871. 

"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  292,  293,  294,  295,  296. 

"Journal  of  Applied  Science,"  for  September,  1871. 

"  The  American  Naturalist,"  for  September. 

"The  Canadian  Entomologist,"  for  July  and  August. 

"New  Remedies,"  a  Quarterly  Retrospect  of  Therapeutics, 
Pharmacy,  &c.  Edited  by  H.  C.  Woods,  Jun.,  M.D.  For 
July.     New  York  :  W.  Wood  &  Co. 

"  Notes  on  Chalcididae."  Part  IV.  By  Francis  Walker, 
F.L.S.     London:  Janson. 

"Orthodox  Phrenology."  By  A.  L.  Vago.  London- 
Simpkin,  Marshall,  8c  Co. 

"  Life  beneath  the  Waves,  and  a  description  of  the  Brighton 
Aquarium."     London:  Tinsley  Brothers. 

"Modern  Scepticism  :"  a  Course  of  Lectures  delivered  at 
the  request  of  the  Christian  Evidence  Society.  London : 
Hodder  &  Stoughton. 

"  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,"  for  September,  1871. 

"The  Australian  Medical  Journal,"  for  July,  1 8/1 . 

"The  Chemical  News,"  No.  615.     Student's  Number. 

"The  Relative  Powers  of  various  Substances  in  Preventing 
the  Generation  of  Animalcule."  By  John  Dougall,  M.D. 
London  :  Churchill. 

"The  Sixth  Report  of  the  Quekett  Microscopical  Club. 

"  The  Animal  World,"  for  September,  I871. 


Communications  Received. — A.  H. —  W.  D.  R. — H.  D. — 
W.  H.— R.  L.— T.  H.,  Jun.— H.  P.  A.— W.  VV.  S.— U.  S.— 
P.  H.  G.— J.  H.  A.  J.-J.  H.— H.  W.— J.  J.— T.  B.  F.— 
J.  A.,  Jun.— J.  J.  J.— B.  L.— F.  H.  C— S.  B.— G.  C.—G.  S.  S. 
— H.  J.  M.  T.— G.  B.— C.  D.— C.  H.  G.— J.  R— R.  B.— 
H.  H.  J.— J.  D.— F.  R.  M.— G.  W.-H.  J.— M.  A.  J.— W.  M. 
— G.  H.  H.-E.  A.  W.— R.  H.— C.  D.— J.  G.— T.  C.  I.— 
H.A.  A.-H.  C  B.— W.  P.— F.  B.  W.— H.  E.  W.— R.  A.— 
J.  S.,  Jun.— R.  G.  — H.  E.  W.— J.  P.— M.  S.  II.  H.— J.  A.  P.— 
R.  B.— I.  S.— H.  H.  J.-R.  L.— W.  H.— J.  R.  S.  C— T.  W.  W. 
— H.  R.— A.  S.— J.  S.-G.  G.-C.  A.— F.  M— S.  M.  P.— 
R.  G.  S.— E.  C.  J.— W.  N.— J.  C—  A.  C— H.  E.— C.  D.— 
A.  H.— W.  McL.— H.  D— A.  F.— F.  W.— A.  E. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


211 


THE  STOEY  OF  A  PIECE  OF   QUARTZ, 


By  J.  E.  TAYLOR,  F.G.S.,  Etc. 


ACT,"  they  say,  "is 
often  stranger  than 
fiction."  I  do  not 
think  you  will  find 
this  old  saw  better 
illustrated  in  the 
whole  series  of  geo- 
logical teachings  than  iu  my 
own  history.  That  history  is 
connected  with  one  of  the 
grandest  discoveries  of  late 
years,  inasmuch  as  it  carries 
back  the  antiquity  of  the  globe 
far  beyond  the  mighty  ages 
which  had  already  been  claimed 
for  it.  Indeed,  the  practical 
effect  of  this  is  to  show  the 
geologist  that  time,  as  a  factor, 
has  nothing  to  do  with  his  in- 
vestigations. That  simple  re- 
lation in  the  succession  of  events  is  all  he  can 
safely  arrive  at ;  and  that  his  finite  mind  can  no 
more  conceive  of  the  myriads  of  years  which  are 
included  in  the  world's  biography,  than  it  can 
sum  up  in  human  arithmetic  the  stars  and  systems 
which  crowd  the  illimitable  realms  of  space  !  With- 
in the  last  ten  years  a  clearer  geological  knowledge 
of  my  origin  has  caused  geologists  almost  to  double 
the  already  great  antiquity  of  the  earth.  At  the 
time  I  mention,  or  thereabout,  it  was  usually  under- 
stood that  the  Cambrian  period  was  the  oldest  and 
most  primeval.  The  human  mind  is  essentially 
conservative,  and  although  geologists  reasonably 
claim  to  be  more  catholic  than  most  men,  they  are 
under  the  same  influences.  This  is  indicated  by 
their  unwillingness  to  make  the  world  appear  older 
than  they  possibly  could  help.  Hence  such  terms 
as  "Primary,"  "  Primordial,"  &c.  applied  to  the 
ancient  strata— which  nevertheless  are  all  much 
younger  than  myself— are  so  many  landmarks  which 
have  shown  this  tendency  in  the  human  mind.    It 


may  be,  that  although 
No.  83. 


the  geological  formation  to 


which  I  belong  is  undoubtedly  the  oldest  known 
formation,  subsequent  research  may  eventually 
make  known  an  older  period  still.  The  difficulty 
in  doing  so,  however,  will  be  considerably  height- 
ened by  the  fact  of  all  these  oldest  rocks  having 
passed  through  many  changes,  by  heat  and  'chemi- 
cal action,  so  that  nearly  all  traces  of  their  former 
fossils  are  effaced,  and  thus  they  are  reduced  to  a 
similarity  of  mineral  condition  all  the  world  over. 

There  are  few  of  my  readers  who  are  not  ac- 
quainted with  my  general  appearance.  They  have 
gathered  me  as  a  milk-white  pebble  by  the  sea 
beach,  or  have  admired  me  as  they  climbed  the 
Scotch  mountains  and  saw  me  sticking  out  of  the 
contorted  rocks  like  a  huge  white  rib.  Or,  they  may 
have  been  more  pleased  still  with  the  geometrical 
shapes  which  my  substance  is  capable  of  assuming 
as  a  six-sided,  pointed  crystal.  It  is  of  my  former 
condition,  rather  than  of  my  latter,  that  I  intend 
now  more  particularly  to  speak.  And  yet  it  is 
necessary  for  me  to  say  that  there  are  two  common 
conditions  in  which  I  am  usually  to  be  found.  One 
is  as  Quartz,  the  other  as  Quartzite.  These  terms 
are  merely  significant  of  appearance,  and  include 
little  or  nothing  of  chemical  difference.  Quartz  pro- 
per is  usually  found  in  veins,  having  been  forced  into 
fissures  when  it  was  in  a  soft,  heated  condition. 
Quartzite  has  not  so  completely  lost  all  its  original 
structure,  and  its  particles  or  grains  may  often  be 
seen  retaining  their  original  water-worn  form.  Again, 
Quartzite  does  not  occur  as  an  intrusive  rock,  but 
in  huge  stratified  masses,  hundreds  of  feet  in 
thickness.  And  yet  you  may  find  transitions  in 
these  two  extreme  states  of  my  family — even  from 
the  transparent  crystal  condition  of  the  "  Brazilian 
pebbles  "  to  the  coarse-grained  and  resinous  appear- 
ance of  quartzite. 

Let  me  be  thoroughly  understood.  Although  I 
am  representing  that  great,  and  at  present  oldest 
epoch  in  our  planet's  history — the  Lavrentian—1 
should  not  like  you  to  fall  into  the  mistake  of  sup- 
posing that  I  am  limited  to  it  alone.    On  the  con- 

M 


242 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


trary,  formations  of  much  more  modern  date  than 
that  to  which  I  belong  are  rich  in  quartz  veins  and 
even  beds.  In  short,  any  rock  that  has  been  ex- 
posed to  the  same  influences  that  I  have,  if  it  con- 
tained the  same  chemical  substances  as  myself, 
would  also  have  quartz  as  the  result.  They  tell  me 
that  I  am  chemically  composed  of  only  one  sub- 
stance— Silica.  My  normal  condition  is  transparent 
and  colourless,  although  I  am  rarely  found  like  this 
except  when  in  geometrically-shaped  crystals.  A 
milk-white  colour  is  that  which  I  commonly  affect; 
and  this  is  due  solely  to  the  rate  at  which  my  pa- 
rent mass  cooled  down.  Hence  it  is  that  geologists 
can  more  or  less  tell  from  my  appearance  the  cir- 
cumstances which  attended  my  birth.  From  the 
pure,  transparent  condition  I  mentioned  above,  I 
pass  through  a  great  "many  modifications,  and  in 
each  stage  of  these  I  am  known  by  different  names. 
But  with  the  exception  of  very  slight  mixtures  of 
other  ingredients  than  this  same  silica,  .1  continue 
the  same  throughout ;  thus,  when  I  am  of  a  violet 
tint  I  am  called  Amethyst ;  when  of  the  colour  of 
sherry,  Topaz  ;  when'of  a  smoke-brown  hue,  Cairn- 
gorm, &c.  Mixed  with  other  chemical  substances 
I  pass  into  jasper,  flint,  chalcedony,  agates,  &c,  in 
all  of  which  you  will  find  that  at  least  nine-tenths 
of  their  whole  bulk  is  silica. 

Up  to  the  time  when  the  geological  formation  to 
which  I  belong  had  been  discovered,  as  I  before 
remarked,  the  Cambrian  was  looked  upon  as  the 
oldest.  But  there  were  a  series  of  schists,  quartzose 
rocks,  &c,  which  were  still  older  than  these,  and 
which  usually  went  by  the  name  of  Metamorphic,  or 
"altered"  rocks';  thus  committing  them  to  no  par- 
ticular geological  age.  By  many  these  rocks  were 
regarded  as  transitional, — that  is,  as  passing  from 
an  igneous  to  a  stratified  condition.  When  it  was 
imagined  that  all  the  granite  rocks  were  formed  as 
the  outer  crust  of  a  ouce  molten  globe,  then,  it  was 
also  thought,  the  rocks  which  came  to  be  formed 
along  the  bottoms  of  the  hot  seas  must  be  of  a  very 
peculiar  character.  |  In  short,  these  mica-schist, 
quartz,  and  gneissose'!  strata'  were  regarded  as 
having  been  deposited  and  solidified  under  such 
circumstances.  Their  absence  of  fossils,  and  proofs 
of  having  experienced  great  heat,  were  looked  upon 
as  bearing  out  this  view.  I  hardly  need  tell  you 
how  erroneous  it  was.  The  Cambrian  period  was 
believed  to  be  that  when  Life  first  [appeared  on  the 
Globe.  Now  this  supposition  is  known  to  be  as 
wrong  as  that  which  accounted  for  the'mineralo- 
gical  appearances  of  the  metamorphic  rocks. 

Although  I  am  speaking  only  as  a  humble  piece 
of  quartz,  you  must  remember,  that,  when  I  am 
narrating  the  circumstances  of  my  life,  I  am  at  the 
same  time  giving  those  of  the  mica-schist,  gneiss, 
and  altered  limestones,  which,  equally  with  myself, 
belong  to  the  Laurentian  epoch.  Indeed,  the  last- 
named  rock,  greatly  altered  though  it  is  in  appear- 


ance, so  as  to  resemble  loaf-sugar,  could,  perhaps, 
tell  you  more  of  the  vital  conditions  of  the  ancient 
Laurentian'seas  than  I  can.  Eirst,  let  me  impress 
you  with  the  fact  that  when  we  were  formed, 
collectively,  we  did  not  differ  in  appearance  from 
the  sandstones,  'clays,  and  limestones  either  of 
the  present  or  any  bygone  geological  era.  All 
this  wonderful  alteration  in  our  appearance  and 
structure  is  due  solely  to  the  subsequent  changes 
we  underwent.  Of  these  I  shall  speak  presently. 
If  you  know  anything  of  the  great  deductions 
of  geology,  you  will  be  aware  that  the  farther 
you  go  back  in  time,  the  fewer  and  simpler  are 
the  forms  of  life  which  inhabited  the  earth.  It 
was  the  general  poverty  of  species,  accompanied  by 
their  lowly  organization,  which  caused  the  Cambrian 
epoch  to  be  regarded  as  the  first  platform  of  Life. 
Now  when  you  go  farther  back  in  time,  to  my  own 
age,  you  will  find  that  the  organisms  are  still  lowlier. 
Indeed,  of  the  objects  that  lived  in  the  seas  where  I 
was  originally  deposited  as  a  thick  sheet  of  ordi- 
nary sand,  all  that  I  can  remember  is  one  abundant 
organism,  not  more  than  an  inch  in  diameter,  now 
known  as  Eozoon,  or  the  "dawn-animalcule,"  in 
allusion  to  its  primeval  antiquity.  It]  was  lowly 
enough  organized,  being'  little  above  the  natural 
history  rank  of  the  common  sponge.  This  marine 
creature  lived  on  the  sea-bottom  in  vast  quantities, 
and  there  grew  by  the  addition  of  layer  on  layer  of 
younger  forms,"  just,  as  I  am  told,  is  the  way  in 
which  coral  reefs  grow  in  modern  seas  !  Like  the 
latter,  it  absorbed  its  carbonate  of  lime  from  the 
sea- water,  and  thus  caused  great  masses  slowly  to 
accumulate.  This  was  in  the  deeper  parts  of  the  sea, 
where  the  water  was  clear,  and  free  from  muddy 
sediment.  But  my  recollection  goes  no  farther  to  any 
animal  type.  No  fishes  swam  in  the  blue  water ;  no 
crustacean  crawled  over  where  I  lay !  Occasionally 
the  rivers  brought  some  lowly-organized  vegetables 
in  entangled  masses,  or  sea-weeds  drifted  into  my 
neighbourhood,  and  eventually  became  entombed  in 
the  sandy  mud— my  then  condition.  An  impure  coal 
was  thus  formed,  and  when  the  rocks  underwent 
their  great  transformation  by  the  agency  of  heat, 
this  vegetation  somehow  or  another  passed  into 
Plumbago,  or  "  black-lead,"  as  it  is  commonly  and 
erroneously  called.  The  great  amount  of  carbon — 
more  than  there  is  in  many  kinds  of  actual  coal — 
which  makes  up  the  composition  of  plumbago,  had 
long  indicated  its  vegetable  origin.  How  lowly 
organized  were  the  land  plants  of  the  Laurentian 
period  you  may  guess  at  from  the  fact  that  many 
ages  afterwards,  during  the  Carboniferous  epoch, 
they  existed  chiefly  as  gigantic  club-mosses  !  What 
I  have  said  about  the  vegetable  origin  of  "  black- 
lead  "  applies  as  logically  to  the  origin  of  the 
Laurentian  limestones.  Some  of  the  beds  are  as 
much  as  fifteen  hundred  feet  in  thickness,  but 
altered  throughout.    As  geologists  are  now  aware, 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


243 


the  limestones  in  every  other  formation  are  always  of 
vital  origin — that  is,  they  have  been  formed  by  the 
accumulation  of  coral  sand  and  reefs,  of  shells,  &c, 
cemented,  perhaps,  by  a  still  greater  bulk  of  micro- 
scopic organisms.  The  white  chalk  of  Norfolk  is 
nearly  as  thick  as  one  of  these  beds  of  Laurentian 
limestones,  and  yet,  to  the  naked  eye,  it  offers  no 
explanation  of  its  origin.  It  is  not  until  you  have 
applied  the  microscope  that  you  perceive  it  to  be 
almost  entirely  built  up  of  the  shields  of  animal- 
cule, many  of  them  of  the  same  species  as  are  now 
living  in  the  Atlantic !  If,  therefore,  the  limestones 
of  every  known  geological  period  have  been  formed 
by  vital  agency,  one  would  imagine  that  those 
limestones,  whose  organic  remains  had  been  oblite- 
rated by  the  great  heat  to  which  they  have  been 
subjected,  might  be  reasonably  put  down  to  the 
same  origin.  Again,  the  various  phosphates,  &c, 
formed  in  these  altered  limestones,  plainly  tell  of 
animal  life  having  been  employed  in  elaborating 
them.  But,  mighty  though  the  transitions  have 
been  through  which  the  whole  of  the  Laurentian 
rocks  have  passed,  all  traces  of  fossils  have  not 
been  lost.  The  limestones  yet  contain  myriads  of 
Eozoa,  as  plainly  showing  they  were  formed  by  its 
agency,  as  a  coral  reef  tells  you  how  its  bulk  grew 
to  its  present  size. 

Twenty  thousand  feet  of  material  had  been 
strewn  along  the  bottoms  of  the  Laurentian  seas 
in  various  places,  the  material  varying  according  to 
its  neighbourhood  to  the  mouths  of  rivers,  &c, 
whence  it  was  brought.  The  solidification  of 
this  mass  took  place  contemporaneously  with  its 
deposition.  A  great  plutonic  change  then  took 
place,  and  what  had  been  sea-bottom  for  ages, 
existed  as  dry  land.  Then  followed  a  period  of 
submergence,  when  it  once  more  became  sea- 
bottom,  aud  had  piled  over  it  ten  thousand  feet  of 
extra  material !  You  ask  how  I  know  all  this,  and 
I  reply  by  pointing  to  you  how  the  upper  ten  thou- 
sand feet  of  rock  lie  tcnconformally  to  the  lower 
masses.  By  "  unconformabiiity  "  I  mean  that  the 
dip  of  their  beds  is  not  the  same,  the  lower  being 
different  to  the  upper.  This  plainly  shows  that  the 
lower  beds  were  uptilted  before  the  upper  were 
formed,  and  that  both  series  partook  of  the  move- 
ment which  finally  elevated  the  upper  Laurentian 
beds  into  dry  land,  in  which  state  they  remained 
during  the  subsequent  Cambrian  epoch. 

You  can  readily  understand  how  the  Laurentian 
rocks,  being  the  first  formed,  must  have  undergone 
more  changes  than  any  other,  inasmuch  as  they 
have  had  to  partake  of  all  that  has  gone  on  since 
they  originated.  It  is  a  wonder  that  we  now  find 
any  of  them  uncovered  by  rocks  of  subsequent 
date,  and  we  should  not,  had  it  not  been  for  those 
great  atmospherical  denudations'which  have  stripped 
off  miles  in  thickness  of  overlying  rocks,  so  as  to 
expose  those  of  an  older  date.    The  Laurentian 


strata  have  had,  perhaps,  miles  in  thickness  of  the 
rocks  of  other  formations  piled  above  them.  They 
have  had  to  undergo  those  great  depressions  which 
eventually  brought  them  so  much  under  the  in* 
fluence  of  the  earth's  internal  heat.  Masses  of 
granite,  trap,  porphyry,  &c.,  have  been  intruded 
through  them,  and  thus  they  have  been  squeezed 
aud  contorted  in  the  most  fantastic  manner.  The 
sandstones,  some  of  them  five  hundred  feet  in  thick- 
ness, have  been  so  affected  by  heat  as  to  become 
quartz,  or  quartzite.  Here,  then,  you  have  the 
secret  of  my  origin  —  the  whole  history  of  the 
changes  which  brought  about  my  present  appear- 
ance !  The  limestones  that  were  contemporaneous 
with  myself  were  altered  so  as  to  resemble  loaf- 
sugar,  and  had  all,  or  nearly  all,  their  organic 
remains  obliterated.  The  shales  and  slates  became 
transformed  by  heat,  chemical  change,  and  pressure, 
into  mica-schists,  gneiss,  felstones,  &c.  So  that  the 
very  peculiarity  in  dip,  contortion,  absence  of 
fossils,  mineralogical  changes,  &c.,  which  mark  all 
the  rocks  of  [the  Laurentian  age,  tell  of  their  vast 
antiquity;  whilst  the  similarity  in  composition  of 
these  rocks  in  all  parts  of  the  world, — in  Ireland, 
Scotland,  and  North  America,  as  well  as  the  preva- 
lence of  the  same  lowly-organized  fossils  in  their 
limestones,  indicates  they  have  passed  through  the 
same  transformations  since  they  were  contempo- 
raneously deposited  as  limy  muds,  sands,  and  clays 
along  the  floors  of  the  primeval  seas ! 


LUMINOSITY  OE  PLANTS,  AND  RETINAL 
VARIABLE  SENSIBILITY. 

"  A  GAIN,  I  always  fiud,  and  should  be  glad  to 
-^-  know  if  others  do,  that  if  the  eye  is  fixed 
upon  a  particular  flower,  the  flashes  are  not  seen, 
while  they  are  very  visible  the  moment  the  eye  is, 
as  it  were,  loosened,  and  allowed  to  wander  over 
the  flowers."  Such  is  the  Note-and-Query  of 
"  E.  T.  S."  in  the  August  number  of  Science- 
Gossip,  speaking  of  a  phenomenon  "seen  in  the 
dusk  when  the  fading  light  is  somewhat  confusing." 
Whilst  reading  the  above.  I  was  at  once  reminded 
of  a  fact  narrated  by  the  late  Sir  John  Herschel, 
in  connection  with  the  subject  of  sidereal  astronomv. 
He  states,  "  There  is  a  group  of  stars  called  the 
Pleiades,  in  which  six  or  seven  may  be  noticed,  if 
the  eye  be  directed  full  upon  it,  and  many  more  if 
the  eye  be  turned  carelessly  aside  while  the  attention 
is  kept  directed  upon  the  group." 

I  think  there  is  an  analogy  between  the  botanical 
and  the  astronomical  occurrences.  The  explanation 
given  by  the  illustrious  astronomer  is  this :  that 
"  the  centre  of  the  visual  area  is  by  far  less  sen- 
sible to  feeble  impressions  of  light  than  the  exterior 
portions  of  the  retina.  Pew  persons  are  aware  of 
the  extent  to  which  this  comparative  insensibility 

M    2 


244 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


extends  previous  to  trial.  To  appreciate  it,  let  the 
reader  look  alternately  full  at  a  star  of  the  fifth 
magnitude,  and  beside  it;  or  choose  two,  equally 
bright,  and  about  3°  or  4'  apart,  and  look  full  at  one 
of  them ;  the  probability  is  he  will  see  only  the 
other — such,  at  least,  is  my  own  case."  And  I  can 
add,  mine  also.  I  have  frequently  put  the  state- 
ment of  Sir  John  Herschel  to  the  test  in  other  ways. 
Thus,  in  looking  for  a  boat  or  buoy  in  the  water  on 
a  dark  cloudy  night,  when  the  object  is  barely  visible, 
I  have  often  found  it  when  I  was  not  looking  full  at 
it,  and  have  convinced  myself  that  I  had  discovered 
the  object,  and  proved  this  theory  by  looking  care- 
lessly aside  a  few  degrees  (more,  generally,  than 
Sir  John  Herschel  gives),  when  it  became  quite 
evident 

One  notable  and  melancholy  occasion  I  well 
remember.  It  was  a  December  night  on  the 
Atlantic.  The  cry  of  "  Man  overboard ! "  had 
aroused  me,  and  hastening  on  deck,  I  found  the  life- 
boat already  manned  and  in  the  water,  quickly  going 
astern,  the  patent  life-buoy  let  go,  and  the  engines 
stopped.  Soon  an  excited  group  had  assembled  on 
the  poop,  and,  curiosity  satisfied,  it  soon  became  a 
silent,  watching  group,  that  heeded  not  the  passing 
time  as  we  rose  and  fell  on  the  still,  deep,  gloomy 
ocean.  Opera-glasses  and  telescopes  scanned  the 
dim  horizon  and  the  dark  waters.  "  Do  you  see  the 
boat  yet  ?  "  "  I  think  I  see  her."  "  How  far  off  ?  " 
— and  then  the  hail,  "  Have  you  found  him  ?  "  and 
the  dismal  response,  "  No !  " 

I  was  not  the  first,  or  the  second  either,  to  see 
the  returning  boat,  but  when  I  did  I  was  much  sur- 
prised that  I  had  not  seen  her  sooner.  I  believe  I 
was  looking  intently  at  her  in  the  direction  indi- 
cated by  many  who  had  better  sight  than  mine,  and 
that  it  was  when  my  eyes  were  diverted  from  the 
object  that  it  broke  suddenly  into  view;  when, 
according  to  Sir  J.  Herschel,  its  image  was  thrown 
on  a  portion  of  the  retina  more  sensible  to  feeble 
impressions  than  the  centre  of  the  area  of  vision. 
I  verified  the  fact  by  gazing  at  the  boat  as  she  rode 
over  the  waves,  when  I  found  that  she  appeared  less 
plainly  than  when  I  was  looking  aside  from  her. 

Now,  all  these  cases  are  of  a  similar  nature.  And 
it  must  be  distinctly  remembered  that  the  rule 
applies  only  to  feeble  impressions  of  light,  or  dusk, 
iu  the  night,  or  again,  as  "E.  T.  S."  remarks, 
"  when  the  fading  light  is  somewhat  confusing." 

In  explanation  of  the  subject,  I  must  not  forget 
to  mention  that  Hueck  states  that,  without  altering 
the  direction  of  the  axis  of  his  eyes  or  the  quantity 
of  light  admitted,  but  merely  by  fixing  his  attention 
on  a  side  object,  he  was  able  to  widen  his  pupils  as 
much  as  one -half  more  than  their  former  diameter. 

The  application  of  this  (if  it  be  generally  true, 
which  I  have  failed  to  demonstrate  very  satisfac- 
torily) to  the  point  in  question  may  be  only  a 
reduction  to  Sir  John  Herschel's  theory. 


Anatomists  and  physiologists  have  discovered 
that  there  is  one  spot  on  the  retina  which  is  abso- 
lutely insensible  to  light ;  and  if  the  image  of  any 
object  fall  on  this  particular  spot,  the  impression  is 
not  conveyed  to  the  brain— we  do  not  seethe  object. 
Any  person  may  prove  this  in  a  very  simple  manner, 
by  an  experiment  known,  I  believe,  as  "  Mar- 
riotte's,"  and  which  is  generally  allowed  to  be  a 
demonstration  of  the  insensibility  of  that  particular 
part  of  the  retina  where  the  arteria  centralis  retina; 
enters  it.  The  spot  is  not  in  the  axis  of  vision,  but 
internal  to  it — nearer  the  nose.  The  knowledge, 
therefore,  of  its  existence  is  no  help  in  replying  to 
the  Note-and-Query  of  "  E.  T.  S.,"  but,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  subject  of  retinal  variable  sensibility, 
it  may  be  interesting.  I  have  often  amused  my 
friends  by  the  experiment,  and,  as  it  is  also 
instructive,  I  will  describe  it. 

Bring  your  thumbs  together,  touching  by  their 
inner  margins,  the  fingers  closed  on  the  palms  of  the 
hands;  maintaining  them  in  this  position,  extend 
your  arms  horizontally  from  you,  keep  your  arms 
and  hands  thus,  steady,  thumbs  well  upright,  close 
the  left  eye  ;  fix  the  right  on  the  left  thumb.  You 
now  see  the  backs  of  your  thumbs  with  the  right 
eye.  Whilst  keeping  it  fixed  on  the  left  thumb, 
move  the  right  outwards  from  its  fellow  very  slowly. 
Although  the  right  eye  is  rigidly  fixed  on  the  left 
thumb,  you  perceive  the  right  moving  outwards, 
until  it  arrives  at  a  certain  point  (about  six  inches 
from  the  left),  when  you  lose  sight  of  it.  Move  it 
still  farther  outwards,  or  upwards,  or  downwards, 
and  it  comes  into  view ;  but  there  is  one  position  or 
place  in  which  it  disappears  altogether,  because  its 
image  then  falls  on  a  part  of  the  retina  which  is 
insensible  to  light.  The  same  experiment  may,  of 
course,  be  performed  with  the  other  eye. 

Barbadoes.  J.  P.  M.  Boileatt,  M.B. 


NOTES  ON  THE  FAUNA  OE  BRITTANY. 

PIERIS  DAPLIDICE  (the  Bath-white)  was 
moderately  plentiful  along  the  coast.  I  took 
the  two  first  I  saw  with  my  hat,  as  they  are  weak 
flyers.  The  best  spots  for  them  were  pulches  of  a 
yellow-flowered  plant  of  the  Cabbage  order.  The 
same  plant,  I  think,  grows  plentifully  on  our  town- 
walls  round  Southampton.  I  only  met  with  one 
female  Bath-white. 

Colias  Hyale  and  Edusa  (the  pale  and  dark 
clouded  yellows)  were  very  plentiful  in  the  lucern 
fields.    Hyale  was  rather  the  commoner  of  the  two. 

Argynnis  Dia  (the  Gorless  fritillary)  frequented 
the  small  patches  of  heathery  ground  along  the 
coast,  and  with  it  were  quantities  of  all  our  common 
August  butterflies.  Argynnis  Did  is  a  reputed 
British  species. 

Among  the  moths  I  took  a  handsome  and  marked 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


245 


species  of  "  tiger-moth,"  which  fiies  like  our 
"cream-spotted  tiger"  (Arctia  villica).  In  the 
daytime  it  approaches  most  in  appearance  our  scar- 
let tiger,  Callimorpha  dominula ;  also  a  pretty 
Littrosia,  or  footman-moth,  not  met  with  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  Acontia  albicollis,  one  of  the  Noctuas, 
which  Edward  Newman  gives  as  doubtfully  British. 
The  last  was  hovering  over  some  flowers  about  noon. 

Formica  rufa,  the  Wood  Ant,  abounded  all  over  the 
country  I  examined.  I  saw  nests  in  the  sand-hills, 
amongst  rocks,  and  along  the  hedges  of  cultivated 
fields.  The  colonies  were  small,  however,  and  nests 
much  less  than  those  at  Weybridge,  in  Surrey. 
Where  a  sandy  locality  had  been  chosen,  little 
paths  were  worn  down  in  the  saudy  turf. 

Formica  sanguinaria,  the  Sanguinary  Ant,  which 
is  not  British,  I  think,  was  less  common  thau  F. 
rufa.  One  colony  I  found  were  marching  in  a 
column  a  few  yards  long,  with  small  pupse  of  appa- 
rently another  species  in  their  jaws,  which  they 
took  down  into  their  nest.  It  had  little  or  none  of 
the  external  coping  used  by  F.  rufa.  These  ants 
are  the  species  that  make  slaves,  and  so  I  concluded 
this  was  a  raid  for  procuring  them. 

The  other  most  conspicuous  insect  was  a  large 
grasshopper,  with  blue  hind  wings,  very  pretty 
when  it  flew  for  a  few  yards. 

Of  the  land  snails  I  found  Helix  virgata  (Da 
Costa)  in  great  abundance,  and  very  much  finer 
than  any  English  ones,  being  nearly  equal  in  bulk 
to  our  Helix  nemoralis.  The  greatest  diameter  of  a 
shell  by  me  is  9-10ths  of  an  inch!  These  large 
ones  frequented  the  sand-hills.  A  pure  white 
variety,  and  some  others  of  smaller  size,  abounded. 

Helix pisana  (Mull)  I  got  on  a  rocky  slope  of  the 
river  Ranee.  The  shells  are  larger  and  much  less 
strongly  banded  and  coloured  thau  my  English 
shells.  One  measures  19-20ths  of  an  inch  in  dia- 
meter. 

Bulimus  acutus  was  to  be  had  everywhere,  and  of 
large  size  also.  Although  I  did  not  get  many  varie- 
ties, those  taken  at  Dol,  a  few  miles  up  the  country, 
were  not  so  fine  as  some  I  found  on  the  seashore. 

Birds  were  scarce.  I  saw  a  good  many  "  wheat- 
ears"  and  one  kestrel  hawk. 

Every  cranny  of  the  rocks  above  high  water  was 
inhabited  by  lizards,  of  what  species  I  cannot  tell 
for  certain. 

Lastly,  I  fouud  in  a  crevice  opening  to  the  north, 
close  to  the  sea,  some  Asplenium  marinum.  Erom 
the  position  in  which  the  fern  was  growing  it  was 
evident  that  the  sun  never  reached  the  spot  all  the 
year  round.  Harry  Leslie. 

Southampton. 

Of  all  birds  to  whom  is  given  dominion  over  the 
air,  the  lark  alone  lets  loose  the  power  that  is  in 
his  wings  only  for  the  expression  of  love  and  grati- 
tude.— Christopher  North. 


ANTS. 

rpiIE  conclusion  of  my  former  colony  of  ants  is 
-*-  briefly  told.*  Towards  the  beginning  of 
October  all  the  neuters  disappeared  below  ground, 
and  for  full  four  months  were  almost  totally 
invisible.  Occasionally,  on  a  sunny  day,  or  if  the 
room  was  warmer  than  usual,  perhaps  a  single 
specimen  might  be  seen  slowly  and  languidly  crawl- 
ing along  the  surface  of  the  formicary ;  but  in  a 
very  short  time  it  would  once  more  retire  below.  I 
sometimes,  as  with  my  first  colony,  placed  a  candle 
near  the  glass  sides,  but  it  failed  to  attract  auy  of 
the  inhabitants. 

I  found  that  all  the  females  did  not  leave  the 
formicary  at  the  time  of  swarming,  which  took  place 
on  September  23th ;  because,  two  or  three  weeks 
after,  I  regularly,  for  three  or  four  days,  found  one 
or  two  drowned  and  wingless  females  lying  in  the 
tank.  I  conjecture  that  these  six  or  seven  stayed, 
or  were  kept,  behind,  to  lay  their  eggs,  and  after- 
wards departed  to  die. 

At  the  beginning  of  February  I  repaired  the 
formicary,  and  put  a  stratum  of  moist  earth  on  the 
surface.  These  alterations  to  some  extent  roused 
up  the  inmates,  and  a  few  emerged  from  their 
winter  recesses,  and  began  sleepily  to  commence  a 
few  excavations.  But  they  showed  none  of  the 
ordinary  signs  of  life  and  activity,  and  appeared  in 
very  scanty  numbers,  until  at  the  end  of  May,  sup- 
posing that  the  colony  must  have  exhausted  itself,  I 
resolved  to  break  it  up.  I  removed  the  glass  sides 
of  the  formicary,  and  then  cut  the  block  of  earth 
into  four  quarters.  I  only  found  about  twenty 
or  thirty  ants,  no  cocoons,  and  I  could  not  discover 
any  eggs.  The  entire  mass  of  earth  was  exten- 
sively burrowed,  but  it  did  not  contain  chambers  of 
any  large  size ;  the  nearest  approach  to  which 
consisted  in  an  increase  in  the  width  of  the 
passage. 

Just  about  this  time  I  put  one  of  the  neuters  on 
to  a  piece  of  thread  stretched  tight.  The  most 
ludicrous  sight  ensued.  It  hung  for  a  while  back 
downwards,  and  attempted  to  move  along  the 
thread  by  clasping  tight  with  one  leg  and  drawing 
itself  along  by  the  others.  But  it  soon  found  that 
it  did  not  get  far  by  this  means,  and  it  tried  to  get 
ou  to  the  uppermost  side  of  the  thread.  But  when 
it  had  with  great  difficulty  raised  itself  up,  it  would 
invariably  go  a  little  too  far,  and,  overbalancing, 
would  fall  completely  head  over  heels  into  its  old 
position.  This  occurred  again  and  again,  until  I 
returned  it  to  the  formicary. 

My  second  colony  I  started  on  May  20th,  1S71. 
I  find  that  slips  of  strong  paper,  fastened  with  very 
stiff  gum  to  both  the  inside  and  outside  of  the  case, 
are  quite  sufficient  to  connect  the  glass  sides,  if 

*  See  Scien'ce-Gossip  for  1870,  page  241. 


24G 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


they  are  also  sunk  at  the  bottom  into  a  deep  and 
puttied  groove.  I  think  that  for  the  back  and 
front  the  most  convenient  size  is  a  foot  square,  but 
the  sides  are  best  not  so  broad.  Of  course,  the 
larger  the  case  the  better  it  will  be,  and  its 
dimensions  must  much  depend  on  the  amount  of 
space  and  materials  at  the  owner's  disposal.  The 
size  I  mention  is  that  of  my  present  case,  and  will 
hold  with  comfort  a  very  large  nest  indeed.  This 
time  I  had  the  trough  made  of  zinc ;  my  objection 
to  which,  taught  by  bitter  experience,  will  be  seen 
further  on.  This  formicary  was  all  made  by  myself, 
with  the  exception  of  the  zinc  trough;  and  the 
whole  apparatus  cost  me  altogether  three  shillings. 
In  order  to  prevent  any  possible  mistake,  I  sent  a 
specimen  of  the  ant  to  Mr.  Frederick  Smith,  of  the 
British  Museum,  to  identify,  who  told  me  that  it 
was  Myrmica  ruginodis,  of  Nylander.  He  further 
informed  me  that  Linnaeus  certainly  included  three 
or  four  species  under  that  name  ;  and  that  English 
entomologists  having  failed  to  distinguish  between 
31.  ruginodis,  31.  scabrinodis,  and  31.  lavinodis,  all 
these  were  referred  to  31.  rubra,  Linn. ;  but  that  it 
being  impossible  to  determine  what  31.  rubra  of 
Linngeus  was,  all  the  three  allied  species  being 
found  in  Sweden,  31.  rubra,  as  a  specific  name,  can- 
not be  retained.  Mr.  Smith  also  kindly  gave  me 
the  following  most  valuable  information,  in  which 
he  pointed  out  one  or  two  specific  differences  by 
which  I  might  distinguish  between  these  three 


Fig.  143.  Antenna  of  Myrmica  ruginodis. 

allied  species  of  Myrmica.  The  female  and  worker 
of  31.  scabrinodis  may  be  known  by  the  fact  that 
the  scape,  or  first  joint  of  the  antenna,  is  bent  or 
elbowed ;  whereas,  in  my  own  species,  31.  ruginodis, 
the  scape  tapers  to  the  base  without  an  elbow 
(fig.  143).  The  only  difficulty  to  contend  with  is  in 
comparing  3f.  Icevinodis  with  31  ruginodis,  because 
the  antenna;  do  not  differ  in  form.  The  two  pecu- 
liar spines,  however,  on  the  metathorax  (fig.  144), 


are  somewhat  shorter  in  31.  Icevinodis,  and  the 
two  nodes  of  the  abdomen  are  also  much  smoother. 
The  males  may  be  known  as  follows : — In  M. 
scabrinodis  the  scape  of  the  antenna  is  very  short, 
in  31.  ruginodis  it  is  long,  and  in  31.  Icevinodis  it  is 
intermediate.  Thus,  with  a  little  careful  observa- 
tion, one'may  determine  with  certainty  the  precise 
species. 


Fig.  144.  Spines  of  Metathorax  of  Myrmica  ruginodis. 

Icollected  a  very  large  number  of  31.  ruginodisvritk- 
out  much  difficulty,  and  placed  them  in  the  formicary ; 
and  I  also  secured  a  considerable  quantity  of  larvae, 
which  were  in  the  form  of  small  white  and  annu- 
lated  maggots.    These  ants  even  surpassed  F.  nigra 
in  the  blind  impetuosity  with  which  they  endea- 
voured to  make  their  escape,  and  they  fell  with 
such  rapidity,  one  after  the  other  into  the  moat, 
that  for  an  hour  or  so  I  and  one  or  two  others  were 
fully  employed  in    saving    them    from   death  by 
drowning.    After  a  time  they  settled  down ;  but  it 
was  two  or  three  days    before  they  began  any 
extensive  excavations.    But  when  once  they  set  to 
work,  their  energy  and  zeal  was  astounding,  and 
they  infinitely  surpassed  F.  nigra  in  this  particular. 
When  hi  the  height  of  their  work  the  burrows 
increased  almost  as  if  by  magic.    They  were  of  very 
considerable  width,  and  the  external  openings  were 
unusually  large.   All  the  sides  of  the  formicary  were 
pretty  evenly  burrowed,  with  the  exception  of  one. 
Why  this   portion   should    have    been   so    much 
neglected,  I  do  not  know;  for,  although  not  the 
lightest,  it  was  not  by  any  means  the  darkest 
side. 

The  appetite  of  this  species  of  ant  is  most 
voracious,  and  they  will  devour  food  with  astonish- 
ing rapidity.  I  have  given  them  as  many  as  ten  or 
twelve  large  blue-bottle  flies  in  one  da y,  all  of  which 
disappeared  down  below  soon  after  I  had  deposited 
them  in  the  formicary,  with  the  addition  of  the 
soaked  lump  sugar.  This  is  what  I  chiefly  fed 
them  upon.  But  31.  ruginodis  is  eminently  a 
carnivorous  insect,  and  the  sugar  they  only  cared 
for  as  a  variety  to  their  usual  diet.  They  scarce 
ever  ate  anything  above  ground  which  could  by  any 
possibility  be  taken  below ;  and  if  I  gave  them  a 
fly,  or  any  such-like  insect,  they  would  straightway 
convey  it  down  the  nearest  burrow.  This  operation 
would  often  take  the   entire  day,  until  they  had 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


247 


widened  them  all ;  for  they  struggled  to  get  their 
prey  out  of  sight  without  any  regard  to  the  width 
of  the  tunnel,  and,  in  consequence,  would  waste 
much  time  in  enlarging  it  to  the  necessary  dimen- 
sions. I  once  had  made  a  large  cavity  in  the  sur- 
face of  the  formicary  by  pressing  my  finger  into  the 
mould,  into  which  I  dropped  a  fly.  The  ants,  of 
course,  took  it  beneath  then  and  there ;  but, 
thinking  the  opening  too  large,  they  moderated 
its  size  by  partly  filling  it  in  with  neatly  arranged 
lumps  of  earth.  I  observed  that  if  I  had  provided 
them  with  some  large  article  of  food,  such  as  a 
sparrow,  that  they  would  so  satiate  and  gorge 
themselves,  that  afterwards,  for  a  week  or  more, 
they  would  leave  the  most  tempting  morsel  almost 
untouched.  F.  nigra  was  a  very  thirsty  race,  but 
1  rarely  or  ever  saw  M.  ruginodis  make  any  attempt 
to  drink.  I  used  to  think  that  the  ants  informed 
each  other  when  a  fresh  piece  of  food  was  given  to 
them,  but  I  now  believe  that  it  is  their  strong  sense 
of  smell  which  attracts  them  to  their  prey  with  such 
rapidity  and  in  such  numbers.  It  is  also  a  most 
peculiar  fact  that  I  never  saw  two  of  my  ants  com- 
municate by  touching  antennae,  as  Formica  nigra  so 
constantly  did,  and  I  could  not  detect  any  other 
means  of  communication. 

I  have  noticed  amongst  all  kinds  of  ants  that  the 
waste  of  labour  is  great.  I  have  seen  seven  or 
eight  ants  tugging  at  a  fly  with  might  and  main,  all 
in  different  directions,  which  would  remain,  in  con- 
sequence, almost  motionless.  At  other  times  one 
ant  alone  can  drag  a  great  fly  with  ease  half  across 
the  formicary.  On  the  1st  of  June  I  saw  a  won- 
derful revolution  amongst  some  of  the  colony.  One 
of  the  ants  had  fast  hold  of  a  comrade  by  an 
antenna,  the  part  they  always  in  their  battles  try 
to  seize,  and  was  struggling  hard  to  drag  it  along 
the  ground.  The  other  was  strenuously  resisting 
this  violent  treatment,  until  a  third  ant  happened  to 
come  upon  the  scene,  and  apparently  taking  the 
part  of  the  hapless  victim,  he  seized  it  by  a  leg 
and  tried  vigorously  to  pull  it  away  from  its 
aggressor.  The  latter  was,  for  all  this,  gaining  the 
day,  when  the  others  chanced  to  come  into  contact 
with  a  clod  of  earth,  to  which  they  clung  with  all 
their  strength.  In  spite  of  this  the  aggressor 
managed  to  haul  the  other  two,  clod  and  all,  to 
some  distance,  until  they  both  lost  hold  of  the 
clod,  and  the  rescuer  let  go  his  grasp  of  the  victim, 
who  now  began  to  fare  badly.  This  created  terrible 
excitement  amongst  the  neighbouring  ants,  and 
tbey  ran  round  about  and  even  over  the  combatants, 
but  offered  no  further  assistance,  until  at  length  an 
ant  ran  hurriedly  up,  stroked  number  one  rapidly 
with  its  antenna,  who  at  once  released  his  prisoner, 
and  they  all  went  quietly  off.  I  have  frequently 
noticed  the  instantaneous  manner  in  which  they 
will  leave  off  fighting,  and  then  apparently  forget 
all  their  grievances.    They  did  nothing  but  quarrel ; 


and,  though  it  seems  a  wild  theory,  I  often  could 
not  help  thinking  that  summary  justice  was  in- 
flicted upon  offenders  by  certain  ants  set  in 
authority  over  the  others. 

In  August,  in  the  very  hot  weather,  a  number  of 
wasps,  which  have  been  so  plentiful  this  year, 
were  attracted  into  the  room  where  my  formicary 
was  stationed,  through  the  open  windows,  to  feast 
on  the  lumps  of  sugar.  It  was  then  that  the  truly 
plucky  nature  of  M.  ruginodis  appeared.  Their 
indignation  at  the  intrusion  was  immense,  and  they 
valiantly  attempted  to  drive  off  the  marauders. 
The  wasps  were  divided  betwixt  greediness  for  the 
sugar  and  fear  of  the  ants,  and  sometimes,  iu  the 
attempt  to  get  rid  of  them,  seized  them  in  their 
jaws,  and  with  a  jerk  literally  tossed  them  to  some 
considerable  distance.  Every  now  and  then  an  ant 
would  get  a  firm  hold  in  a  place  where  the  wasp 
could  not  reach  it  with  its  jaws,  upon  which  the 
latter  would  roll  over  and  over,  buzzing  and  striking 
with  its  feet,  in  vain  endeavours  to  dislodge  its 
painful  parasite  ;  and  sometimes  they  would  be 
attacked  in  such  large  numbers  that  they  would 
have  to  fairly  fly  away  for  a  time  and  settle  afresh. 
Their  tossing  away  the  ants  had  no  effect  in  quelling 
them,  for  the  moment  they  regained  their  feet  they 
rushed  forwards  again  to  renew  the  attack,  only  to 
be  once  more  hurled  to  a  distance. 

I  subjected  an  ant  to  microscopic  examination  in 
search  of  its  sting,  and  on  pressing  the  abdomen  I 
saw  a  long  and  formidable  curved  lancet  protrude. 
It  much  resembled  that  of  a  wasp  in  miniature,  and 
the  tube  through  which  the  acid  is  conveyed 
through  the  sting  and  into  the  wound  was  very 
distiuct.  They  can  only  pierce  an  opponent  when 
they  double  up  their  abdomen  under  the  thorax  ; 
and  for  this  reason,  that  the  sting  has  a  peculiar 
upward  curve,  which  makes  this  particular  move- 
ment necessary  before  it  can  be  brought  into  a 
stinging  position.  If  they  are  kept  straight,  they 
can  only  nip  lightly  with  their  jaws,  which  gives 
but  little  pain.  They  are,  reluctant  to  sting  unless 
forced,  and  I  tried  a  long  while  before  I  could  get 
one  to  attack  me.  At  length  I  got  one  to  do  so, 
who  stung  away  lustily  for  a  short  time.  The 
place  was  afterwards  most  horribly  painful,  swelled 
much,  and  was  hard  and  red  for  several  days.  In 
my  last  article  on  ants  I  remarked  that  Formica 
rufa  had  a  veritable  and  a  very  painful  sting.  In 
this  1  was  incorrect.  None  of  the  Formicidce  are 
provided  with  that  appendage. 

Eor  the  first  week  after  the  establishment  of  the 
formicary,  the  platform  was  literally  strewn  with 
dead  ants.  Whether  they  were  ants  who  had  been 
injured  in  the  removal,  or  whether  they  were  those 
who  had  died  from  the  change  of  circumstances,  I 
do  not  know.  From  that  time  to  this  I  hardly 
remember  the  death  of  a  single  ant,  or,  to  say  the 
least,  none  were  visible.    They  were  not  as  careful 


218 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


as  F.  nigra,  in  clearing  away  rubbish,  for  although, 
as  far  as  I  know,  they  always  carried  their  dead 
down  to  the  platform,  none  of  them  were  thrown 
into  the  water,  and  the  remains  of  flies  and  such- 
like they  generally  left  lying  up  above  in  the 
formicary.  Their  curiosity,  like  that  of  all  ants  I 
have  come  across,  was  inordinate,  and  whenever 
I  cleaned  out  the  trough  or  the  platform,  hosts  of 
ants,  apparently  the  whole  colony,  would  pour 
down  one  after  the  other  to  witness  the  change. 

M.  ntginodis  were  very  persevering  in  bringing 
their  young  into  the  warmth  of  the  sun,  and  left 
them  out  very  much  longer  than  F.  nigra  did.  In 
fine  weather  they  would  often  remain  in  the  pas- 
sages next  the  glass  from  eight  in  the  morning 
until  five  or  six  in  the  evening.  The  pupse  are 
never  enclosed  in  cocoons,  and  when  placed  out  in 
the  warmth  they  were  curled  up,  and  of  a  white  or 
brownish  colour.  I  saw  none  in  my  nest  after 
August  12,  but  in  colonies  out  of  doors  I  noticed 
them  several  weeks  later.  On  June  22  I  gave 
them  two  larva?  from  a  strange  nest  of  31.  ntginodis. 
They  were  instantly  detected  as  intruders,  and  the 
first  ant  who  came  into  contact  with  them,  instead 
of  carrying  them  into  shelter  with  all  speed,  as  he 
would  by  his  natural  instincts  have  done,  began  to 
tear  and  pull  them  about  in  the  most  unmerciful 
manner,  and  though  after  a  time  the  ants  conveyed 
them  below,  it  was  palpably  to  eat  and  not  to 
nurture  them. 

Night  was  always  a  quiet  time  with  31.  ntginodis, 
although  at  all  hours  there  were  generally  one  or 
two  about.  Their  principal  opening  was  also  in 
the  centre,  by  the  roots  of  the  grass,  and  males  and 
females  when  they  attempted  to  emerge,  as  they  often 
■did,  were  peremptorily  and  even  savagely  repulsed. 
They  swarmed  on  August  30,  nearly  a  month  before 
F.  nigra,  but  I  was  not  present  at  the  time,  and, 
most  unfortunately,  was  not  informed  of  the  occur- 
rence till  afterwards. 

The  end  of  my  formicary  was  not  successful.  I 
noticed,  on  August  18,  that  the  colony  was  in  a 
state  of  great  bustle  and  excitement,  and  the  whole 
surface  of  the  formicary,  the  glass  sides,  the  bur- 
rows, and  the  platform  were  swarming  with  ants 
hurrying  hither  and  thither.  As  I  subsequently 
found,  they  were  on  the  point  of  migrating,  for  in 
the  course  of  that  fatal  morning  they  escaped  by 
the  dozen.  Nothing  stopped  them  ;  they  fearlessly 
crossed  the  water,  although  many  were  drowned  in 
the  attempt,  and  many  had  a  long  and  desperate 
struggle  before  they  reached  the  opposite  bank. 
If  put  back  into  the  case,  they  instantly  set  about 
a  fresh  escape,  and  I  soon  found  that  all  my  efforts 
were  perfectly  vain,  and  that  I  must  let  them  go 
their  own  way.  And  so  I  did,  and  by  the  evening 
all  the  principal  portion  of  my  colony  had  decamped. 
They  made  direct  for  a  crack  under  the  window, 
down  which  they  went,  and  thence,  doubtless,  they 


got  into  the  garden.  I  feel  sure  that  nothing 
would  have  kept  them  in;  but  their  escape  was 
facilitated  by  my  trough  being  made  of  zinc,  which 
caused  a  generation  of  gases  on  the  surface  of  the 
water,  on  the  top  of  which  they  could  easily  and 
lightly  cross.  The  zinc  was  continually  a  source  of 
trouble  to  me  in  this  way,  and  there  was  also  a 
constant  settlement  of  thick  gummy  mucus  at  the 
bottom  of  the  water,  which  makes  even  the  rust  of 
tin  far  preferable  to  this.  I  fancy  that  sheet  lead 
would  prove  as  obnoxious  as  zinc. 

Since  this  migration  the  few  remaining  ants  have 
done  little  or  nothing.  They  neither  eat,  drink,  or 
work,  and  I  shall,  next  year,  have  to  entirely  re-stock 
the  formicary,  probably  extending  my  observations 
to  a  fresh  species.  At  the  time  I  write,  however, 
October  3,  what  ants  are  left  have  laid  themselves 
up  for  the  winter.  I  must  also  observe  that  I  was 
away  from  home  all  July,  and,  in  consequence,  I 
doubtless  lost  many  observations  which  I  otherwise 
might  have  made. 

Ants  have  been  endowed  from  time  immemorial, 
by  both  ancient  and  modern  writers,  with  divers 
magic  and  marvellous  qualities.  The  following 
receipt  of  the  famous  old  herbalist,  Culpepper,  is 
a  good  and  amusing  instance  of  this  : — 

"  To  draw  a  tooth  without  pain.— Fill  an  earthen 

crucible  full  of  emmets,  ants,   or  pismires,  eggs 

and  all,  and  when  you  have  burned  them,  keep  the 

ashes,  with  which  if  you  touch  a  tooth  it  will  fall 

out." 

Edward  Fentone  Elwin. 

Booton,  Norwich. 

DEFENSIVE  RESOURCES  OF  BRITISH 
INSECTS. 

ON  reading  the  article  entitled  "Protective 
Mimicry,"  in  the  September  number  of 
Science-Gossip,  it  occurred  to  me  that  a  more  ex- 
tended view  of  the  display  of  this  power  among  our 
British  insects  might  possibly  be  interesting  to  un- 
scientific gossipers,  and,  better  still,  might  provoke 
in  the  pages  of  that  periodical  a  little  harmless 
discussion  on  the  subject.  Much,  very  much,  is 
still  to  be  gleaned  respecting  the  habits  of  insects, 
and  there  are  whisperings  abroad  that  we  English 
entomologists  are  getting  strangely  lazy,  for  in  an 
early  number  of  the  Field  for  1871,  the  reviewer, 
while  picking  out  the  flaws  in  a  French  work  on 
insects,  took  occasion  to  deplore  the — what  shall  I 
say — fact — that  England  was  doing  very,  very  little 
to  advance  the  cause  of  entomology.  The  plaintive 
reviewer  had,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  a  good  deal  of 
truth  on  his  side,  for  nowadays  the  majority  of  us,  I 
fear,  instead  of  watching  the  habits  of  an  insect, 
either  impale  it  on  pins  to  swell  a  collection,  or  else 
amputate  one  of  its  members  with  an  ingenious 
flourish    and    dexterous    cut,    macerate    the    said 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


249 


member  in— the  dickens  knows  what, — mount  it 
in  Canada  balsam  or  castor  oil,  and  then  bring  a 
popular  microscope  to  bear  upon  it,  the  view 
then  presented  being  "  magnificent,"  "  wonderful," 
"  perfect,"  "  altogether  indescribable,"  mixed  up 
with  a  profusion  of  "dear  me's"  and  "good 
graciouses,"  from  the  feminine  operators.  I  do  not 
wish  to  be  thought  a  contemner  of  the  microscope, 
far  from  it ;  on  the  contrary,  I  appreciate  its  useful- 
ness, and  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  few  and  pure 
sources  of  profit  and  pleasure  combined ;  but  is  it 
not  humiliating  to  see  so  many  translations  of 
French  works  on  insects  issuing  from  the  press, 
while  England,  practically  speaking,  is  too  much 
engaged  with  her  microscope-mania  to  pay  much 
attention  to  the  wonders  of  transformation  or  any 
similar  subject  ?  However,  let  •  us  hope  for  better 
times ;  let  us  hope  that  many  worthy  English 
Reaumurs,  Lewenhoecks,  and  De  Geers  will  shortly 
appear  on  the  entomological  horizon,  and  thus 
wipe  off  the  stain  which  the  Field  reviewer  has  so 
unhesitatingly  bestowed  on  our  character. 

In  the  article  previously  referred  to,  the  writer 
gives  an  amusing  recital  of  the  deportment  of  a  very 
harmless  moth,  which,  in  addition  to  bearing  a  great 
resemblance  to  the  ferocious  hornet,  was  likewise 
gifted  with  the  power  of  mimicking  the  actions  of 
that  insect,  and  by  various  significant  hints  to  show 
that  it  was  capable  of  making  as  vigorous  a  defence 
as  crabro  himself.  I  wonder  whether  other  ento- 
mologists have  noted  this  habit  of  the  Lunar  Hornet 
Sphinx — the  popular  English  name  of  the  moth  in 
question, — and  whether  the  other  species  of  clear- 
wings,  resembling  flies,  bees,  &c,  have  ever  been 
observed  to  display  the  same  power  of  mimicry  ?  It 
is  certainly  a  very  singular  faculty,  aud  the  writer 
has  well  styled  it  "protective  mimicry."  In  the 
present  article  on  the  defensive  resources  of  insects 
the  power  they  possess  in  active  mimicry  will  be 
waived,  and  mention  only  made  of  that  passive 
counterfeit  of  death  and  insensible  mimicry  of  in- 
animate objects,  which  in  many  cases  is  their  only 
means  of  defence.  Insects  have  so  many  enemies 
that  if  some  means  of  defence  had  not  been  pro. 
vided  them  they  would  doubtless  have  soou 
disappeared  from  the  earth.  I  say  this  advisedly, 
notwithstanding  the  extraordinary  fecundity  of 
insects.  A  perpetual  war  is  being  waged  upon 
them.  Thousands,  nay  millions,  of  animals  derive 
their  entire  subsistence  from  the  insect  world,  and 
as  the  numbers  of  the  finny  tribe  are  affirmed  to  be 
diminishing,  so,  perhaps,  a  hundred  years  hence  the 
same  may  be  said  of  insects.  Next  to  the  great 
fecundity  of  insects  the  reluctance  with  which  many 
of  them  part  with  life  may  be  brought  forward  as 
another  reason  why  their  numbers  are  so  immense. 
I  have  seen  a  moth  (Spilosoma  meuthastri),  when 
deprived  of  head,  thorax,  legs,  and  wings,  so  that 
nothing  but  the  abdomen  remained,  continue  to  ex- ' 


trude  its  eggs  for  a  long  time,  aud  not  till  this  act 
for  the  perpetuation  of  its  species  had  been  com- 
pleted did  the  convulsions  of  the  dismembered  body 
cease.  If  cats  have  nine  lives,  surely  beetles  have 
ninety-nine.  Cockchafers,  dor-beetles,  and  wasps 
may  sometimes  be  seen  alive  though  destitute  of 
viscera,  and  moths  and  flies  headless  but  still  lively 
are  very  common  occurrences. 

Kirby  and  Spence,  the  eminent  entomologists, 
have  placed  the  defensive  powers  of  insects  under 
two  heads,  viz.,  active  and  passive.  The  first  of 
these  consists  of  the  employment  by  the  insect  of 
weapons  or  other  active  means  of  defence,  and  the 
second  by  insensible  means  of  resistance,  indepen- 
dent of  the  will  or  effort  of  the  insect.  Eamiliar 
examples  of  the  first  are  the  poison-laden  stings  of 
the  hornet,  the  wasp,  and  the  bee.  These  insects, 
and  those  allied  to  or  similar  to  them  in  structure, 
are  the  best  fitted  for  the  successful  resistance  of 
enemies,  and  to  these  effective  means  of  defence  is 
owing  their  plenitude.  Were  the  honey-bee  desti- 
tute of  a  sting,  the  presence  of  the  straw  hive  in 
cottage  gardens  would,  I  venture  to  say,  be  a  less 
common  occurrence  than  it  is  at  present.  The  Rev. 
J.  G.  Wood  says  that  the  swallow — a  most  per- 
severing collector  of  insects — devours  only  the  sting- 
less  bees,  and  allows  the  better-provided  ones  to 
escape.  Truly  the  swallow  must  be  a  discriminating 
bird,  and  an  entomologist  of  no  mean  order,  if  it  is 
able  in  its  aerial  flights  to  distinguish  the  drone 
from  the  working  bee.  But  probably  that  wonderful 
power  instinct,  which,  though  denied  to  mankind,  is 
present  in  birds  and  beasts,  might  have  been  given 
to  the  swallow  in  a  super-abundant  degree.  This 
hackneyed  term  "instinct"  has  always  to  stand 
sponsor  to  statements  in  natural  history  which  bear 
a  resemblance  to  that  reason  on  which  we  pride 
ourselves  as  being  the  only  possessors. 

Instinct  to  reason  sure  is  near  allied, 
And  thin  partitions  do  their  bounds  divide. 

The  dragon-flies  and  many  of  the  British  beetles 
have  active  means  of  defence.  The  heads  of  the 
former  are  often  terribly  armed,  and  their  bites 
very  severe.  Their  disposition  is  also  cruel  and 
rapacious,  and  they  have  even  been  known  to 
devour  their  own  tails.  Some  of  the  species  are 
likewise  cannibals.  I  have  caught  that  lovely 
species  the  Demoiselle  with  a  piece  of  another  in  its 
mouth.  This  beautiful  fly  is  common  by  the  sides 
of  streams  in  May  and  June.  The  male  has  a  rich 
blue  body  and  a  deep  purple  spot  on  each  wing ; 
the  female  has  a  bronzed-green  body  and  is  spotted 
on  the  wings.  The  grasshoppers,  especially  the  giant 
species  viridissimus,  are  gifted  with  great  powers  of 
biting,  and  will  readily  seize  a  finger  when  pre- 
sented to  them;  so  also  will  any  of  the  ants.  The 
bites  of  the  red  and  the  wood  ants  are  often  followed 
by  painful  blisters.  The  common  gnat  does  not  (I 
believe)  use  its  collection  of  surgical  instruments  as 


250 


HARDWICKE'S      SCIEN  CE  -  G  OSSIP. ' 


weapons  of  defence,  but  only,  I  grieve  to  say,  of 
offence.  The  attack  of  this  little  midnight  prowler 
on  a  delicate  subject  is  often  plainly  visible  for  days, 
and  many  sensitive  persons,  after  an  introduction  to 
one  of  these  beautifully-formed  but  desperate  blood- 
suckers, feel  somewhat  shy  of  venturing  into  public 
life  till  the  red  splotches,  so  sadly  suggestive  of 
indulgence  in  "  drops,"  have  disappeared  from  the 
cheeks  and  forehead.  The  caterpillar  of  the  Puss 
Moth  {Cerura  vinula)  carries  at  the  end  of  its  body 
two  black  sheaths  or  tails,  each  inclosing  a  pinkish 
tentacle  or  thread,  which,  when  the  creature  is 
irritated,  it  thrusts  out  in  a  very  menacing  manner. 
This  apparatus  is  said  to  be  used  as  a  whip  to  drive 
away  the  ichneumon  flies,  which  prey  in  their  larval 
state  on  caterpillars ;  but  this  we  beg  leave  to 
doubt,  and  also  the  assertion  that  the  tentacle  will 
give  an  electrical  shock  when  touched  with  the 
hand.  This  caterpillar  is  common  on  willow  and 
poplar  trees  in  autumn. 

The  beetles  have  various  means  of  active  defence. 
There  is  the  Bombardier,  a  species  provided  with  a 
kind  of  artillery  with  which  to  keep  at  bay  its 
insect  enemies.  The  bombardier,  on  being  alarmed, 
turns  its  hinder  part  to  the  enemy  and  lets  fly  a 
charge  of  blank  cartridge,  having  all  the  essentials 
of  real  artillery,  viz.,  a  noise,  accompanied  with 
smoke,  and  a  peculiar  smell.  If  one  discharge  does 
not  stop  the  progress  of  the  enemy,  the  bombardier 
again  turns  its  artillery  upon  it,  and  bangs  away 
with  the  perseverance  of  Wellington's  Spaniards. 
It  has  been  known  to  fire  twenty  times  in  succession. 
The  explosive  substance  is  a  fluid  contained  within 
the  body,  which,  on  being  ejected,  becomes  volatil- 
ized by  contact  with  the  atmosphere. 

A  mode  of  defence  almost  unicpie  among  British 
insects  is  that  of  the  Death's-head  Hawk-moth 
(Acherontia  atropos)  and  its  caterpillar,  both  of 
which  emit  a  shrill  squeak  when  alarmed ;  and  this, 
it  is  said,  is  sufficient  to  scare  even  the  plundered 
bees  when  the  moth,  too  lazy  to  obtain  honey  in  the 
usual  way,  creeps  into  the  rich  hives  for  that 
purpose. 

Another  method  of  active  defence  in  insects  is  the 
emission  of  certain  fluids,  accompanied  in  some  cases 
by  a  fetid  smell,  in  others  by  a  mimicry  of  death. 
The  whole  family  of  Coccinellidte,  or  Ladybirds,  on 
being  alarmed,  fold  up  their  legs  and  counterfeit 
death,  at  the  same  time  emitting  from  the  joints  of 
the  limbs  a  mucilaginous,  disagreeably-smelling, 
yellow  fluid.  The  power  of  counterfeiting  death  is 
not  peculiar  to  the  ladybird,  but  is  shared  by 
several  other  insects,  and  in  many  cases  is  their 
only  means  of  defence.  Birds,  as  a  rule,  are  averse 
to  picking  up  dead  game,  and  consequently  many 
of  the  insects  which  possess  the  power  of  feigning 
death  escape  destruction  by  this  means.  Other 
examples  of  insects  emitting  fluids  are  the  two 
Bloody-nose  Beetles    [Timarchia  tenebricosa    and 


coriaria),  which,  on  being  handled  or  alarmed,  exude 
from  the  head  a  bright  ruby-coloured  fluid ;  and  this 
they  will  repeat  several  times  in  succession.  This 
fluid  does  not  smell  or  taste  particularly  strong, 
and  when  applied  to  the  skin  only  stains  it  slightly. 
It  has  been  affirmed,  however,  that  when  the  insect 
has  been  compelled  by  pressure  to  eject  the  fluid 
with  violence  against  the  cheek,  or  other  delicate 
part,  the  result  has  been  a  smart  pain.  Another 
eccentric  individual  is  that  curious  insect  the  Oil 
Beetle  {Proscarabceus  vulgaris),  which  is  so  often 
seen  in  April  on  the  grass  by  the  sides  of  hedges. 
If  you  take  it  up,  it  will  fold  its  legs  and  emit  from 
the  joints  a  clear  yellow  oil,  not  an  ordinary  insect 
fluid,  but  possessing  all  the  essentials  of  an  oil. 
Some  caterpillars  likewise  exude  a  fluid  from  the 
mouth  (generally  of  -a  green  colour),  among  which 
may  be  mentioned  those  of  the  large  Cabbage 
White  and  Peacock  butterflies  (Pieris  brassier, 
Vanessa  Io.).  The  caterpillar  of  the  Puss  Moth, 
previously  mentioned,  has  the  power  of  ejecting  a 
fluid,  which,  though  harmless  to  its  human  foes,  is 
probably  very  obnoxious  to  its  insect  enemies. 
This  fluid  it  ejects  from  an  aperture  under  the 
head.  The  Wood  Ant  {Formica  Herculanea),  in 
addition  to  its  powers  of  biting,  can  also  dart  a 
venomous  fluid  which  will  raise  a  blister  on  the 
skin. 

In  place  of  the  ejection  of  ifluids'as  a  means  of 
defence,  some  insects,  and  especially  beetles,  have 
the  power,  when  in  danger,  to  throw  out  such  a 
quintessence  of  stenches  as  to  taint  the  surrounding 
atmosphere.  I  once  drew  fa  handkerchief  across 
one  of  these  insect-skunks,  and  in  an  instant  every 
part  of  the  cambric  was  affected  with  the  disgusting 
odour.  The  majority  of  Londoners  need  not  be 
reminded  of  the  defensive  powers  of  that  metropolitan 
household  pest,  the  Bug.  Then,  again,  some  insects 
have  the  power  of  diffusing  odour  pleasant  to  us, 
but  probably  offensive  to  certain  foes.  The  Musk 
Beetle  {Cerambyx  moschatus),  found  in  summer 
about  old  willow-trees,  gives  out  a  smell  'of  roses, 
and  the  Tiger  Beetle  {Cicindela  compestris),  common 
in  May  and  June,  on  sunny  banks  and  highways  has 
a  pleasant  smell  not  unlike  the  leaf  of  the  verbena. 

There  is  a  method  of  active  defence  among 
insects  which  consists  of  a  single  effort  and  a  passive 
awaiting  of  the  result.  Thus,  many  of  the  hairy 
caterpillars  on  being  alarmed  curl  up  into  a  ring 
aud  fall  to  the  ground,  leaving  the  stiff  spines  to 
project  on  every  side  as  a  defence  from  attack  on 
the  more  vital  parts.  The  almost  impenetrable 
coat  of  the  hairy  caterpillar  is  a  capital  means  of 
defence,  and  is  no  doubt  the  reason  why  so  few  of 
these  insects  fall  victims  to  ichneumon  punctures. 

The  most  common  mode  of  active  defence  in 
insects,  and  the  last  we  will  mention,  is  that  of  quick 
motion,  which  is  shared  by  the  majority  of  insects. 
Properly  speaking,  however,  quick  motion  is  not  a 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


251 


defensive  power,  yet,  being  a  method  to  which 
many  insects  owe  their  immunity  from  destruction, 
we  mention  it.  The  zigzag  flight  of  the  butterflies 
and  moths,  and  the  hopping  powers  of  the  flea,  are 
good  examples  of  quick  and  eccentric  motion.  The 
Ghost  Moth  {Hepialus  humuli)  is  gifted  with  an 
almost  magical  flight.  This  moth  may  be  seen  in 
summer  evenings  flying  a  short  distance  above  the 
tall  herbage  in  meadows  and  fields.  Suddenly,  when 
watching  its  white  flutter,  it  vanishes  as  totally  and 
with  as  much  celerity  as  its  namesake  is  popularly 
supposed  to  do.  The  real  explanation  of  this 
curious  proceeding  is  that  the  insect  has  suddenly 
settled  on  a  stalk,  and  has  hid  from  view  its  white 
upper  wings,  turning  to  the  spectator  the  dark 
hinder  ones  only.  The  little  gilded  hopping  beetles, 
&c,  on  willow,  hazel,  and  elm  leaves,  are  other  good 
examples  of  quick  motion ;  to  which  we  may  also  add 
the  leaping  powers  of  the  various  grasshoppers,  and 
the  air-jumps  of  the  Skipjack^Beetles  and  the  Scar- 
let and  other  Hoppers. 

Let  us  now  run  over  a  few  of  the  passive  defen- 
sive resources  of  insects.    One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing  modes  of  passive  defence    in  insects  is  the 
resemblance  many  of  them  bear  to  other  carefully 
avoided  insects,  or  to  inanimate  objects.    Several 
of  the  clearwing  moths   (Sesidce)  are  remarkable  as 
examples  of  the  first-named  peculiarity.     One  of 
these,  the  Hornet  lslot\i(Sesla  apiformis),  is  so  simi- 
lar to  its  namesake,  the  ferocious  crabro,  that  it  is 
continually  liable  to  be  mistaken  for  such  by  those  not 
conversant  with  the  lepidoptera.  The  Currant  Clear- 
wing  (Sesia  tlpuliformls)  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  mis- 
taken for  a  gnat  or  a  fly.  There  are  other  species  re- 
sembling ants  (winged)  and  bees.  The  great  Saw-flly 
(Sirexgigas),  despite  its  hornet- like  appearance  and 
the  formidable  ovipositor  at  the  end  of  the  body,  is 
yet  a  very  harmless  insect,  and  the  Humble  Bee ' 
Ely  {Bombyllus  meclius)  does  not  carry  out  its  re- 
semblance to  that  insect  so  far  as  to  possess  a  sting ; 
neither  are  the  Bee  Hawk-moths  (Macroglossa  bom- 
byllformls  an&fuciformis)  so  bee-like  as  they  appear. 
None  but  the  initiated  would  take  the  Humming- 
bird Hawk-moth  (Macroglossa  stellatarum)  to  be  a 
moth  at  all.    The  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  in  his  "  Com- 
mon Moths  of  England,"  says  (when  noting  the 
resemblance  of  this  moth  to  the  humming-bird)  "  that 
persons  who  have  resided  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
afterwards  come  to  live    in    England,  have  been 
deluded  into  the  idea  that  they  have  seen  genuine 
humming-birds  flying  about."    Indeed  the  mode  of 
flight,  manner  of  feeding,  and  general  appearance 
of  this  insect  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the  hum- 
ming-bird. The  bird,  like  the  moth,  hovers  over  the 
flower,  and  with  its  slender  bill,  similar  to  the  hans- 
telktm  or  sucker  of  the  moth,  extracts  its  food.  The 
the  tail  of  the  bird  is  well  represented  in  the  moth 
by  a  feathery  process  at  the  end  of  the  body,  and  the 
wings  hum  and  vibrate  like  those  of  the  tiny  bird. 


The  Stone  Plume  (Pterophorus  llthodactylns)  is 
about  as  much  unlike  a  moth  as  the  clearwings  are, 
and  is  no  doubt  frequently  mistaken  for  a  small 
edition  of  a  "  daddy  long-legs,"  or  crane-fly. 

Better  even  than  the  resemblance  to  other  insects 
is  the  power  many  species  passively  possess  of 
counterfeiting  inanimate  objects.  The  best  ex- 
amples we  can  find  of  insects  displaying  this  power 
are  the  Looper  caterpillar,  many  of  which  have  the 
art  of  stretching  out  and  stiffening  their  bodies 
into  the  form  of  shoots  and  twigs,  and  as  their 
colours  generally  harmonize  with  the  leaves  and 
branches,  the  deception  is  often  so  complete  that 
persons  have  unwittingly  gathered  caterpillars 
instead  of  twigs  from  sheer  inability  to  distinguish 
one  from  the  other.  In  some  cases,  to  still  further 
keep  up  the  resemblance,  the  caterpillars  bear  on 
their  bodies  crooks,  humps,  and  even  thorns. 
Several  of  the  moths,  when  "  at  rest,"  much 
resemble  surrounding  objects.  Thus,  the  Lappet 
Moth  (Bombyx  qiiercifolia),  when  settled  on  the 
branch  or  trunk  of  a  tree,  looks  like  several  small 
leaves  collected  in  a  bunch  which  had  fallen  there 
by  chance.  Again,  the  Lime  Hawk-moth  (Sme- 
rlnthus  tlUce),  in  its  peculiar  hanging  position  and 
general  shape,  bears  no  distant  resemblance  to  some 
prematurely  faded  leaf ;  while  the  Sycamore  Moth 
(Acronycla  acerls)  is  quite  as  likely  to  be  passed  by 
as  merely  a  bunch  of  grey  lichens. 

The  safety  of  most  caterpillars  lies  in  their  colour 
closely  harmonizing  with  those  of  the  trees  and 
plants  on  which  they  feed.  It  is  very  interesting  to 
notice  the  extra  care  taken  by  nature  to  provide  for 
the  safety  of  the  insect  in  its  larval  state — indeed, 
more  ways  of  defence  are  vouchsafed  to  the  cater- 
pillar than  to  the  perfect  insect.  The  leaf-roller 
lies  snug  in  its  leafy  tube,  and  if  that  is  assailed, 
often  escapes  through  its  adroitness  as  a  rope- 
spinner;  the  Caddis-worm  dons  its  coat  of  mail 
and  defies  the  attacks  of  aquatic  foes ;  the  Ant- 
lion  larva  conceals  itself  at  the  bottom  of  its 
burrow ;  the  Gall-fly  larva  feeds  away  its  grubhood 
in  the  snug  oak-apple ;  the  Cuckoo-spit  larva  wal- 
lows in  froth  ;  while  many  caterpillars  of  the  moths 
spin  silken  webs  of  considerable  thickness,  through 
which  even  the  birds  can  scarcely  make  an  entrance, 
and  by  the  time  the  walls  are  carried  the  inmates 
have  all  filed  out  through  convenient  apertures, 
and  have  sought  the  thickest  part  of  the  bush. 
The  fragile-looking  Lacewing  flies  place  their  eggs 
at  the  ends  of  slender  tubes  or  stalks,  which 
effectually  preserves  them  from  being  devoured  by 
predaceous  insects.  To  return.  Many  of  the 
insects  which  live  in  sand  and  earth  have  exactly 
the  same  tints  as  their  surroundings.  The  pre- 
vailing colour  in  caterpillars  is  green,  and  as  the 
greater  number  of  them  feed  on  the  leaves  of  trees 
and  plants,  this  similarity  in  colour  is  of  essential 
service  in  concealing  them   from   their  enemies. 


252 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE- GO  SSI  P. 


The  parched  and  withered  appearance  of  the  grass 
at  the  end  of  summer  assimilates  so  closely  with 
the  hue  of  the  grasshopper,  &c.,  found  at  that  time, 
that  were  it  not  for  their  activity  and  heedless 
leaps  they  would  be  scarcely  discoverable.  The 
little  blue  butterfly  {Polyommatas  Alexis)  perched 
on  the  flower-head  of  the  scabious  or  the  corn  blue- 
bottle, is  another  familiar  example  of  the  protecting 
influence  of  similarity  of  colour.  The  moths,  as  I 
have  already  pointed  out,  will  likewise  afford  the 
entomologist  several  examples  of  this  thoughtful 
provision  of  nature.  Sometimes,  however,  the  same 
power  of  ready  concealment  is  given  to  the  enemies 
of  insects,  which  are  thus  enabled  to  seize  their 
prey  with  greater  facility.  For  instance,  last 
August  I  noticed  a  beautiful  glossy-green  fly 
buzzing  loudly  in  a  bramble  blossom,  and  trying 
hard  to  extricate  itself.  I  thought,  of  course,  that 
it  had  been  caught  by  the  blossom,  and  that  I  had 
discovered  the  latter  to  be  a  genuine  fly-trap.  On 
gathering  the  blossom,  and  pulling  at  the  fly,  I 
found  that  a  spider  of  exactly  the  same  colour  as 
the  centre  of  the  blossom  had  nailed  the  fly  fast  by 
its  proboscis,  and  ail  its  struggles  to  escape  were 
fruitless.    I  released  it,  but  it  was  nearly  dead. 

Several  of  the  hairy  caterpillars  are  no  doubt 
instinctively  shunned  by  birds  from  the  power  they 
passively  possess  of  annoying,  even  in  death,  their 
ornithological  devourers.  I  allude  to  the  urticating 
properties  of  the  spines  in  some  species,  the  effect 
of  the  punctures  of  which  on  the  human  skin  is  no 
doubt  familiar  to  every  entomologist.  Rennie 
declares  that  no  bird  will  eat  the  caterpillar  of  the 
common  Magpie  Moth  {Abraxas  grossulariata) ; 
but  why  he  made  this  statement  of  a  larva  quite 
smooth  I  am  at  a  loss  to  understand. 

Lastly,  it  is  possible  that  the  ferocious  appear- 
ance, yet  withal  peaceful  disposition,  of  some 
insects  is  their  sure  protection.  Look,  for  in- 
stance, at  the  gigantic  Stag  Beetle,  with  its  terrible 
jaws,  and  you  would  think  it  perfectly  able  to  cope 
with  anything ;  but  these  dreadful  frontal  arrange- 
ments are  only  useful  in  a  passive  sense,  viz.,  they 
serve  to  menace  and  terrify  by  their  appearance, 
and  that  is  all.  As  weapons  of  defence  in  an  active 
sense  they  are,  we  believe,  seldom  or  never  used. 
The  Cocktail  Beetles  {Staphylinidm)  and  the  Ear- 
wigs, carry  formidable  forceps  or  pincers  at  the 
tail,  apparently  for  active  defence,  but  in  reality 
they  are  simply  used  for  tucking  away  the  gauzy 
wings  under  the  short  elytra.  The  most  con- 
sequential and  impudent-looking  of  our  British 
caterpillars  is  that  of  the  Puss  Moth,  whose  atti- 
tude when  at  rest  is  so  well  known.  The  cater- 
pillar of  the  Elephant  Hawk-moth  (Chterocampa 
Elpenor)  is  far  from  prepossessing  in  appearance, 
the  large  ocellar  spots  on  the  skin  on  each  side  of 
the  body  looking  like  a  couple  of  great  staring 
eyes.    The  spines,  spikes,  and  horns  of  many  cater- 


pillars likewise  give  them  a  very  ferocious  appear- 
ance, and  probably  insure  them  protection  from 
injury. 

This,  I  confess,  is  but  a  slight  review  of  the 
defensive  resources  of  insects ;  I  therefore  venture 
to  hope  that  some  of  the  entomological  readers  of 
Science-Gossip  will  send  their  experiences  on  this 
interesting  subject,  and  thus  make  the  list  more 
complete. 

William  Henry  Warner. 

Kingston,  Abingdon. 


SKELETON  LEAVES. 

rriHE  title  is  not  very  taking,  certainly.  It  does 
-*-  not  hold  forth  a  promise  of  much  interest,  yet 
if  my  readers,  taking  it  for  granted  I  am  fortunate 
enough  to  have  any,  could  but  see  the  exquisite 
collection  of  skeleton  leaves  now  grouped  before  me 
(and  which  I  owe  to  the  kind  courtesy  of  a  corre- 
spondent of  Science-Gossip  resident  at  Leicester), 
they  would,  I  am  sure,  quite  understand  why  I  have 
selected  such  a  subject. 

The  process  by  which  leaves  are  skeletonized— or 
perhaps  I  should  write,  a  process,  for  I  am  not 
aware  by  what  means  the  donor  of  the  present  col- 
lection arrived  at  such  perfection  in  the  art — I  will 
describe  at  the  end  of  my  paper ;  and  meanwhile, 
before  I  notice  the  different  skeleton  leaves  in  par- 
ticular, just  glance  at  the  action  or  uses  of  leaves  in 
general,  while  they  are  on  the  tree.  "  Roots  make 
leaves,  and  leaves  make  roots,"  is  an  accepted  say- 
ing ;  but  then  comes  the  explanation,  that  the  above 
wise-saw  is  good  and  true  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it 
does  not  embody  the  whole  fact,  roots  being  made 
without  leaves,  and  leaves  without  roots. 

This  appears  at  first  a  puzzle,  nevertheless  it  is 
true;  but  at  the  same  time  let  me  observe  that 
neither  can  live  long  without  the  other,  save  in  the 
case  of  plants  which  are  not  leaf-producing. 

The  action  of  the  root  spriglet  (the  end  of  the 
root)  is  much  like  the  pulse  in  a  human  being,  for 
it  never  stops,  night  or  day,  in  heat  or  cold,  until 
all  vitality  is  at  an  end.  Take  a  healthy  tree  as  our 
example,  and  we  find  that  directly  the  roots,  stems, 
and  branches  are  full  of  sap,  the  leaves  burst  forth  ; 
they  are  the  lungs,  and  digestive  arrangement  also, 
of  the  tree.  They  give  out  the  watery  portion  of 
the  sap,  by  means  of  pores  on  the  upper  surface, 
and  then,  when  it  is  properly  purified  and  rendered 
sufficiently  dense,  they  send  it  back  to  the  root  by  a 
set  of  vessels  on  the  lower  or  uuder  side.  This  ac- 
counts for  the  very  great  number  of  veins  which  we 
find  in  a  skeleton  leaf ;  and  thus  it  is  that  leaves, 
when  skeletonized,  present  so  lovely  and  delicate  an 
appearance. 

I  have  now  before  me  the  exquisite  leaves  of 
the  ChnjsopJtyllum  angustifolium  and  Ficus  religiosa. 
The  former  comes  from  the  West  Indies,  where  the 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


253 


fruit  of  some  members  of  the  genus  is  eaten  by  the 
name  of  "  Star-apple."  The  other,  from  the  East,  is 
the  leaf  of  a  species  of  fig;  but  you  must  not  imagine 
that  our  native  plants  do  not  produce  leaves  fully  as 
beautiful,  when  skeletonized,  as  their  foreign  cousins. 

The  Hedera  (our  Ivy),  the  Lady  Fern,  the  Maiden- 
hair, all  full  of  beauty ;  but  the  gem  of  gems  in 
the  group  I  have  is  a  fern  from  the  Oregan  Moun- 
tains. Another  fern,  from  South  America,  is  like- 
wise very  lovely,  and  such  peculiarly  delicate  fronds 
must  have  required  especial  care  in  preparing. 

I  also  received  from  the  same  source  a  card  of 
dried  flowers,  the  colours  of  which  are  so  well  pre- 
served that  they  resemble  a  bright  painting.  I  saw 
some  specimens  of  this  kind  of  ornamental  work  at 
a  fete  one  day,  given  in  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Gardens;  but  really  they  were  not,  in  my  opinion,  so 
well  done  as  the  pretty  little  group  sent  to  me 
from  Leicester. 

The  usual  way  of  skeletonizing  leaves  is  to  place 
the  more  delicate,  such  as  fern  fronds,  in  a  bleaching 
solution,  without  first  steeping  them  in  water ;  but 
all  the  natural  green  tint  must  have  faded  away  first. 

The  solution  is  made  of  chloride  of  lime, — two 
ounces  dissolved  in  a  pint  of  water.  After  the  leaves 
have  been  thoroughly  dried,  they  should  be  washed, 
dried,  and  carefully  put  away  in  a  box,  so  as  to 
exclude  them  from  the  air  and  light  until  quite  fit 
for  mounting. 

I  believe  that  the  maceration  of  the  larger  strong 
leaves,  such  as  the  oak,  chestnut,  and  others,  is  the 
most  difficult  part  of  the  process:  perhaps  "H.  G.," 
Leicester,  will  kindly  give  the  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip  a  few  hints  on  this  point. 

Helen  E.  Watney. 

Bryu-hy-Fryd,  Beaumaris,  North  Wales. 


ALONG   SHORE. 

STROLLING  along  the  beach  at  Hastings,  I 
picked  up  three  or  four  common  objects  which 
had  been  washed  up  by  the  tide ;  but  common  as 
they  were,  there  are  some,  perhaps,  who  have  picked 
them  up,  as  I  have  done,  and  wish  to  know  what 
they  are,  and  something  about  them,  being  at  a  loss 
to  comprehend  them. 

The  first  object  was  an  oyster-shell,  perforated  on 
the  outside  with  scores  of  round  holes,  as  if  they 
had  been  bored  by  some  enemy  to  its  old  inhabitant. 
Glancing  more  closely,  by  the  aid  of  a  pocket  lens, 
it  was  easy  to  trace  some  yellowish  substance  coat- 
ing these  orifices,  and,  when  the  shell  was  broken, 
running  between  the  calcareous  layers  of  the  shell. 
Surely  it  was  a  sponge,— the  boring  sponge  so  lately 
the  subject  of  discussion  at  the  Quekett  Micro- 
scopical Club. 

Was  the  sponge  capable  of  boring  these  holes 
into  the  substance  of  the  hard  shell,  or  did  it  occupy 
and  surround  the  holes  which  were  already  per- 


forated by  some  other  animal?  This  was  the  point 
in  dispute.  As  for  my  own  opinion,  1  feel  convinced 
that,  some  how  or  other,  but  how  I  cannot  say,  the 
sponge  does  bore  its  way  into  the  shell. 


Fig.  143.  Portion  of  Oyster-shell  perforated  by  Ciione. 


Fig.  1-16.  Section  of  Oyster-shell  perforated  by  C/ione. 

But  this  vexed  question  it  is  not  my  intention  to 
revive.  There  was  the  sponge,  and  by  boiling  in 
nitric  acid  it  was  easy  to  isolate  the  pin-shaped 


Fig.  147.  Spicules  of  sponge  {Ciione  celata),  magnified. 

spicules  which  occur  so  freely  in  the  sponge,  and 
of  these  I  have  given  an  illustration  (fig.  147). 

A  little  further  on,  and  two  different  specimens 
of  the  homes  formerly  occupied  by  polyzoa  were 


25i 


HARD  WICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


secured.  These  are  usually  called  sea-mats,  of 
which  one  kind  is  so  common  everywhere.  The 
larger  of  the  two  kinds  now  found  is  much  more 
delicate  than  the  common  Flustra  foliacea,  figured 
in  a  former  volume  of  this;  journal.  It  is  named 
Flustrd  truncata  (fig.  148),  and  when  a  portion  of  it 
is  mounted  in  a  cell,  and  examined  with  a  low  power 


Tig.  148.  Flustra  truncata,  nat.  size. 


Fig.  149.  Portion  of  same,  x  60. 

of  the  microscope,  it  is  a  very  pretty  object,  even 
when  all  its  inhabitants  are  dead  and  gone  (fig.  149). 
The  second  specimen  was  smaller,  more  tufted, 
still  more  delicate  and  fragile.  It  is  Flustra  char- 
tacea,  the  Papery  Sea-mat  (fig.  150),  more  common 
on  the  coast  at  Hastings  than  on  almost  any  other 
spot  around  Britain.  Like  its  congener,  this  also, 
when  magnified,  is  a  very  interesting  object.    What 


myriad  inhabitants  must  have  once  tenanted  this 
delicate  little  tuft,  which  is  now  blown  along  the 
sand  with  every  puff  of  wind  !  And  yet  every  one 
of  these  openings  (fig.  151)  was  once  the  door  of  a 
tenanted  dwelling. 


Fig;.  150.  FlustrU  ckartacea. 


Fig.  151.  Portion  of  same,  x  60. 


Fig.  152.  Membranipora  pilo.ia  encrusting  sea-weed, 
nat.  size. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIF. 


255 


Passing  on,  I  picked  up  seaweed  of  several  kinds, 
nearly  every  specimen  of  which  was  encrusted  with 
a  coralline  substance,  bristling  all  over  with  long 
hairs.  Hundreds  of  such  specimens  could  have  been 
collected  in  a  few  minutes,  on  large  Ftcci  and 
Laminaria,  as  well  as  delicate  Rhodosperms.  Here 
was  another  example  of  homes  without  hands,  for 
even  the  pocket  lens  showed  the  openings  to  hun- 
dreds of  cells,  armed  at  the  mouth  with  long  spines ; 
and  this  commonest  of  zoophytes  (as  it  is  often 
called)  was  the  Membranipora  pilosa  (fig.  152). 


Fig.  153.  Membranipora  pilosa,  x  60. 

Here  then  are  four  very  interesting  and  very 
common  objects,  each  having  its  own  story,  and  a 
marvellous  one  too,  of  low  life  beneath  the  ocean- 
wave.  All  these  were  picked  up  within  a  few  yards 
and  during  an  interval  of  not  more  than  five  minutes ; 
yet,  if  their  stories  were  fully  unfolded,  these  would 
occupy  as  many  hours.  I  wonder  how  many  of  the 
thousands  that  rush  to  Hastings,  and  such-like 
places  in  the  autumn,  and  kick  these  objects  along 
on  the  sand,  ever  think  of  the  story  that  they  could 
reveal,  or  dream  of  questioning  them  concerning  the 
living  wonders  of  the  sea. 

VALLEYS  AND  HILLS. 

QINCE  living  at  the  embouchure  of  the  lovely 
^  St.  Austell  valley,  I  have  been  often  asked, 
why  valleys  during  the  night  should  be  so  much 
colder  than  hills  around  them ;  aud  as  many  edu- 
cated persons  to  whom  I  have  proposed  the 
question  have  been  at  a  loss  for  an  explanation, 
perhaps  the  few  following  remarks  on  the  subject 
may  prove  interesting  to  some  of  the  readers  of 
Science-Gossip.  Heat,  as  is  well  known,  has  a 
tendency  to  expand  all  substances  into  which  it 
enters,  and  thus  the  specific  gravity  of  bodies  will 
be  lessened  by  it,  so  that  heated  air  will  be  lighter 
than  air  of  a  lower  temperature,  and  cold  air  will 
sink  by  its  greater  weight  to  the  lowest  place.  Let 
us  suppose  that  various  atmospheric  currents,  of 
different  degrees  of  heat,  are  commingling  and  roll- 


ing over  the  higher  parts  of  a  neighbourhood ;  it  is 
clear  that  the  valley,  as  the  lowest  place,  will  most 
probably  get  more  than  its  proper  share  of  cold 
vapours,  by  the  simple  laws  of  gravitation ;  and  hence 
one  reason  why  valleys  at  nights  are  often  much 
colder  than  hills.  Again,  it  is  a  fact,  that  to  convert 
water  into  invisible  vapour,  six  times  180°  of  heat 
are  necessary,  or  six  times  the  amount  of  caloric 
required  to  raise  water  from  the  freezing  to  the 
boiling-point ;  and  as  every  cloud  consists  of  this 
wonderful  expansion  of  water,  and  watery  particles, 
and  store  of  latent  heat,  it  is  easy  to  understand, 
if  clouds  are  more  frequently  condensed  into 
rain  on  the  hills  than  in  the  valleys,  that  the  tem- 
perature of  the  more  lofty  districts  of  a  neighbour- 
hood must,  in  this  way,  be  raised.  Now,  observa- 
tion has  proved  that  such  is  the  case,  and  reflection 
shows  why  it  should  be  so ;  for  if  the  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere  in  the  valley  be  15  lb.  on  the  square 
inch,  when  the  barometer  is  at  30°,  the  barometer 
1,000  feet  up  the  hill-side  would  stand  only  at  29°, 
proving  that  ^th  part  of  the  whole  atmosphere 
existed  in  the  stratum  beneath,  and  if  so,  that  the 
pressure  at  that  height  would  be  only  14i  lb.  to  the 
square  inch ;  the  air,  therefore,  1,000  feet  up,  being 
less  dense,  would  have  5'oth  less  sustaining  power  of 
the  clouds  drifting  through  it ;  and  if  to  this  rarity 
from  loss  of  superincumbent  weight  we  add  the 
steady  decrease  of  temperature  from  dilutation  of 
the  air  and  loss  of  reflected  heat  from  the  earth 
itself,  it  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  condensa- 
tion shouldjtake  place  on  the  hill-sides.  Of  course, 
this  explanation  will  apply  only  to  moderate  heights, 
to  lines  below  perpetual  snow,  for  the  precise  point 
must  exist  on  every  mountain,  varying  with  its  lati- 
tude, where  the  amount  of  caloric  given  out  from 
condensed  vapour  will  be  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  cold  caused  by  increasing  dilutation  of  the 
atmosphere.  Again,  if  it  be  true  that  valleys  are 
colder  than  hills  by  night,  they  are  much  warmer  by 
day,  from  concentration  of  the  sun's  rays  and  absence 
of  fierce  winds.  And  often,  even  in  the  night,  when 
the  thermometer  notes  many  more  degrees  of  heat 
on  the  hill-side,  the  temperature  in  the  valley  may 
be  more  endurable  than  the  rapid  evaporation  caused 
by  a  dry  wind ;  for  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that 
whether  steam  be  formed  by  the  bubbling  of  boiling, 
or  silently  passes  away  by  evaporation,  the  amount 
of  caloric  it  carries  with  it  is  always  the  same,  and 
the  heat  which  makes  it  must  be  abstracted  from 
something.  Goethe  makes  the  following  sensible 
remarks  in  one  of  his  letters  from  Italy  :— "  Auf  dem 
flachen  Lande  empfangt  man  gutes  und  boses 
Wetter,  wenn  es  schon  fertig  geworden,  im  Gebirge 
ist  man  gegenwartig  wenn  es  entsteht ;  denn  nicht 
die  Polhohe  allein  macht  Klima  und  Witterung, 
sondern  die  Bergreihen,  besonders  jene,  die  von 
Morgen  nach  Abend  die  Lander  durchschneiden." 

Joseph  Drew. 


256 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


AQUARIA. 

"All  the  world's  bravery,  that  delights  our  eyes, 
Is  but  thy  several  liveries ; 
Thou  the  rich  dye  on  them  bestowest, 
Thy  nimble  pencil  paints  the  landscape  as  thou  goest. 

"  A  crimson  garment  in  the  rose  thou  wear'st, 
A  crown  of  studded  gold  thou  bear'st, 
The  virgin  lilies,  in  their  white, 
Are  clad  but  with  the  lawn  of  almost  naked  light." 

Cowley. 


I  RE  ALLY  should  feel  delicate  in  asking  space 
for  more  gossip  on  aquaria,  had  not  a  reader  ol 
your  journal  reminded  me  of  an  omission  I  made  in 
my  last  letter. 

I  most  certainly  ought,  when  discussiug  the 
relative  merits  of  real  versus  artificial  sea-water,  to 
have  mentioned  light,  aspect,  and  form  of  tank,  and 
as  "Mr.  B."  has  noticed  this  want,  other  corre- 
spondents may  do  the  same,  so  I  send  up  the  result 
of  my  experience  in  these  matters. 

First  of  all,  as  regards  the  form  of  the  aquarium, 
I  prefer  a  perfectly  plain  slate  one,  the  front  and 
top  alone  being  composed  of  glass:  such  an  arrange- 
ment tends  to  keep  the  water  cool,  and  only  allows 
the  light  to  enter  the  water  through  the  surface.  The 
light  falls  on  it,  does  not  come  in  sideways,  as 
through  a  glass  bowl  or  globe,  and  it  appears  to  me 
to  be  a  far  more  natural  way  of  fitting  up  a  home 
for  creatures  whose  proper  habitation  is  in  the  sea, 
where  all  the  light  they  get  must  come  from  above, 
and  reach  them  through  water. 

A  Blue,  speaking  to  me  on  this  subject,  once  said, 
"  All  below  is  dark  as  night ; "  *  and  again,  "  Let 
but  the  surface  of  the  sea  be  ruffled  by  a  passing 
wind,  and  little  if  any  light  can  be  transmitted." 
It  is  all  very  well  for  scientific  people  to  say  this, 
and  I  will  take  it  for  granted  that  it  is  correct,  for 
I  am  not  scientific ;  but  as  most  of  the  animals  we 
stock  tanks  with  do  not  reside  in  the  "dark  as 
night,  deep  below,"  but  in  shallow  pools,  and  on 
rocks  which  are  left  partially  uncovered  by  the  re- 
treating tide,  where  the  glorious  rays  of  the  blazing 
sun  must  reach  them,  I  like  to  procure  for  them, 
when  in  an  aquarium,  a  fair  proportion  of  light.  No 
one  who  has  watched  sea-anemones  expand  their 
tentacles,  under  the  influence  of  a  bright  sunshiny 
day,  can  doubt  its  being  beneficial  to  them  when  it 
is  properly  regulated. 

As  the  amount  of  water  in  a  tank  is  comparatively 
small,  too  much  sunshine  would  heat  it,  therefore 
some  shading  is  needful.  The  window  in  which  the 
aquarium  stands  should  be  opened  at  the  top  to 
admit  air,  and  I  like  a  green  blind  better  than  a 
white  one. 

The  rock-work  ought  to  be  arranged  so  as  to 
afford  shade.      Small  caverns  and  miniature  over- 


*  If  the  sea  is  "  dark  as  night  below,"  how  do  divers  (men, 
not  the  birds  so  called)  tee  to  work  ? 


hanging  rocks  are  very  easily  made,  and  tufts  of 
growing  alga;  give  protection  to  some  of  the  smaller 
zoophytes. 

The  heat  of  the  water  in  the  tank  should  be  as 
nearly  as  possible  that  of  the  ocean,  which  is  said  to 
be  5G  degrees,  and  never  varies  more  than  12  in 
the  entire  year. 

Many  aquaria  are  made  with  sloping  backs,  in 
order  to  give  the  different  animals  various  depths 
of  water.  I  like  to  build  the  sloping  back  up 
myself,  with  rocks,  shells,  and  seaweed. 

The  glass  cover  should  be  made  in  two  pieces : 
they  must  not  meet,  as  the  space  is  necessary  for 
the  purpose  of  admitting  air.  Some  people  use 
coloured  glass,  and  I  fancy  it  does  increase  the 
colour  in  the  seaweeds,  especially  if  it  approaches 
the  sea-green  in  shade;  but  I  always  use  plain  glass, 
because  I  can  distinguish  the  creatures  in  the 
aquarium  so  much  better  through  it. 

Aquarium  thermometers  are  to  be  procured.  I 
saw  one  lately  which  had  been  purchased  at 
Negretti's,  but  whether  at  his  stall  in  the  Crystal 
Palace,  or  his  place  of  business  in  town,  I  never 
thought  of  asking.  It  answered  well.  Perhaps  it 
will  not  be  out  of  place  to  add  that  a  maker  of  very 
good  slate  aquaria  lives  in  Anglesea  (Mr.  Edwards, 
of  the  Menai  Bridge) .  The  slate  quarries  near  "  Nant 
Prancon,"  better  known  as  the  "  Penrhyn  quarries," 
supply  the  raw  material.  Pancy  "Duchesses," 
"Countesses,"  and  "Ladies,"  the  titles  given  to  slates 
of  different  sizes,  being  cut  up  and  made  aqua- 
ria of;  why  it  is  almost  as  bad  as  turning  poor 
Princess  Joan's  stone  coffin  into  a  horse-trough! 
But  thanks  to  the  late  Lord  Batheley,  it  has  been 
rescued  from  such  degradation,  and  placed  in  a  very 
pretty  retired  spot  in  the  grounds  of  "Baron  Hill  " 
(Sir  Richard  Batheley's  handsome  residence  near 
Beaumaris),  to  point  a  moral,  and  perchance  adorn 
a  tale;  for  where  could  romance  find  a  darker 
episode,  in  all  the  records  of  history,  whereon  to 
found  a  story,  than  the  legend  of  William  de  Beros 
and  Prince  Llewelyn's  wife  ? 


'  The  gorgeous  pageantry  of  times  gone  by, 
The  tilt,  the  tournament,  the  vaulted  hall." 

Helen  E.  Watmey. 


Squirrel  versus  Missel-thrush  (p.  23S). — 
The  facts  given  by  "  G.  H.  H."  under  the  above 
head  cannot  be  considered  conclusive,  unless  we 
are  told  that  the  squirrels  he  refers  to  were  iu  a 
state  of  nature.  I  strongly  suspect  that  they  were 
not,  and  many  animals,  when  under  confinement, 
will  adopt  a  different  kind  of  diet  to  what  they  are 
accustomed  when  wild.  Por  my  part,  I  fully  be- 
lieve the  squirrel  is  "  not  guilty  "  of  the  crime  laid 
to  its  charge,  and  I  an.  pleased  that  another  corre- 
spondent (p.  237)  takes  a  similar  view  of  the  case. 
— H.  C.  Sargent. 


HARDWICKE'S    SC  1EN  CE-GOSS  I  P. 


257 


ZOOLOGY. 

'   The  Squirrel—  For  many  years  I  was  of  opinion, 
although  a  shooting  man,  that  the  squirrel  was 
perfectly  harmless,— that  it  was,  strictly  speaking,  a 
vegetarian.    I  have/  too,  read  works  by  shooting- 
men  which  mention  the  fact,  that  this  beautiful  little 
denizen  of  our  preserves  may  be  spared.    But  the 
other  day  I  was  rudely  shocked.    During  a  walk  in 
the  country  I  saw  a  commotion  going  on  at  the  edge 
of  a  covert,  and  stepped  in  to  see  the  cause.    There 
were  a  little  rabbit  and  a  full-grown  squirrel  in  full 
combat !    Although  the  rabbit  tried  hard  to  shake 
off  his  opponent,  the  smaller  animal  had  evidently 
the  best  of  it,  and  no  doubt  would  very  shortly  have 
put  an  end  to  the  existence  of  his  prey,  for  such  I 
must  perforce  call  it,  had  I  not  stepped  in.    The 
squirrel  easily  got  away ;  not  so  the  poor  little  rabbit, 
which  had  a  severe  wound  on  its  head  between  the 
ears.    After  this,  I  am  afraid,  as  a  game  preserver, 
I  shall  have  small  sympathy  for  the  squirrel,  how- 
ever much  he  may  contribute  to  the  beauty  of  the 
country.— F.  A.  F. 

Ring  Ouzel  (Turdus  torquutus). — I  saw  a  soli- 
tary specimen  of  this  handsome  and  lively  bird  on 
Salisbury  Plain  on  the  15th  September,  on  my  way 
to  Stonehenge.  Will  auy  Wiltshire  correspondent 
say  if  this  bird  is  often  seen  ?  For  myself,  I  never 
observed  it  there  before.— W.  W.  Spicer,  Itchen 
Abbas. 

How  Fishes  breathe,  is  the  title  of  an  ex- 
cellent article  by  John  C.  Galton,  M.A.,  in  the 
"  Popular  Science  Review  "  for  October. 

Small  Eggar  [Friogaster  lanestris). — I  thank  my 
"Reading"  friend,  and  also  your  correspondent 
"  J.  R.  S.C.,"for  their  notes  on  this  moth  in  your  last 
impression.  It  would  be  interesting  to  find  out  the 
cause  of  the  mortality  which  is  prevalent  among  the 
larvaj  of  this  species.  It  is  an  [extremely  abundant 
caterpillar,  but  I  do  not  recollect  ever  observing  or 
capturing  the  moth  on  the  wing.  1  One  would  be 
led  to  suppose,  considering  the  extreme  abundance 
of  the  larva?,  that  the  perfect  insect  would  be  more 
frequently  observed;  but  it  appears  to  be'quite  the 
contrary— here  at  any  rate— I  don't  know  how  it  is 
in  other  localities.  It  would  be  interesting  to  me 
to  know.  I  am  inclined  to  share  the  belief  of  your 
correspondent  "  J.  R.  S.  C,"  and  attribute  it  to  a 
disease  (which  it  would  be  interesting  to  find  out  if 
it  could  be)  which  tends  to  diminish  their  numbers. 
Newman  on  this  species  ("  British  Moths,"  p.  42), 
gives  out, — "  the  moth  appears  the  folloicing  Feb- 
ruary," which,  according  to  my  experience,  is  very 
rarely  the  case.— R.  Laddiman,  tit.  Augustine's, 
Norwich. 

The  Squirrel.— Really  your  correspondent 
George  Cox  ought  to  be  highly  complimented  on 
the  success  of  his  spirited  and  clever  analysis  of  my 


little  story'of  the  squirrel.    Permit  me  to  correct 
two  errors  in  that  gentleman's  handling  of  the  case- 
First,  I  am  not  aware  that  I  stated  in  No.  80  that 
my  friend  "  brought  to  my  feet  a  bleeding  misshapen 
mass."    The  expression  would  be  capital  for  the 
London  Journal  or  Miss  Braddon's  latest  sensation, 
but  hardly  fit  for  Science-Gossip.    The  sportsman 
who  killed  that  squirrel  is  acknowledged  one  of  the 
best  shots  in  England,  and  hit  the  animal  in  the 
head,  so  there  was  not  much  blood,  if  any,  to  be 
seen.    Second,  I  did  not  say  that  "  a  ghost  had  been 
at  mischief."    There  is  no  necessity  for  anybody  to 
throw  the  ghost  of  a  doubt  upon  my  statement. 
Supernatural  disappearances  and  ghosts  I  do  not 
believe  in,  nor  would  any  sensible  person  believe  a 
ghost  story  upon  any  evidence,  even  Mr.  Cox's  own 
"  ocular  proof,"  I  fear.    That  gentleman  must  try 
to  realize  the  fact  that  there  are  some  people  in  the 
world  who  speak  the  truth,  even  if  they  happen  to 
be  only  gamekeepers  ;  and  that,  fortunately  for  these 
poor  fellows,  there  are  masters  who  believe  them, 
and  can  be  relied  on  in  their  turn.    However,  I  will 
write  to  my  friend,  who  is  a  Dorset  nobleman,  and 
well  known  as  a  close  observer  of  the  habits  of 
animal  life,   and  he  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  prove 
beyond  dispute  that  squirrels  did  and  do  eat  the 
game  eggs  in  his  preserves.   It  is  no  visionary  dream 
of  ghost  and  goblin  disappearance  of  the  egg  that  I 
refer  to,  but  a  veritable  gobbling  of  the  articles 
named.     Mr.   Cox  has  surely  never  lived  in  the 
country,  or  he  would  have  known  that  pheasants 
leave  their  eggs  often  in  a  very  unprotected  state. 
I  should  really  be  sorry  to  offer  unpmchasable  com- 
modities for  sale  or  publication,  especially  if  my 
knowledge  of  natural  history,  small  as  it  is,  were  as 
limited  as  my  worthy  questioner's !     It  must  be  a 
relief  to  the  gentleman's  mind  to  find  that  all  the 
"  other  vermin"  including  the  "  old  hedgehog,"  had 
been  nailed  to  his  barn-door  "years  ago.'     Lucky 
man!    There  are  only  his  pet  squirrels  left,  and 
they  are  too  pretty  to  grace  a  barn-door.    Happy 
little  squirrels !    I  hope  they  have  plenty  of  nuts  ; 
and  that  for  the  sake  of  the  pheasants'  domestic 
peace  there  are  no  game  preserves  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood.   Not  that  I  would  care  to  awaken  Mr. 
Cox  from  his  dream  of  the  blissful  innocence  of  the 
little  animal.    Surely  he  has  lived  long  enough  to 
find  out  that  beauty  does  not  always  carry  virtue 
with  it.    The  most  lovely,  gorgeous,  and  elegant 
forms  of  creation  are  not  always  free  from  faults,  or 
the  best  models  to  copy ;  perhaps,  as  in  the  case  of 
our  friend  the  squirrel,  that  very  beauty  and  elegance 
are  all  the  good  qualities  he  possesses.— Barbara 
Wallace  Fyfe,  Nottingham. 

P.S.— An  old  naturalist  has  just  informed  me  that 
he  has  often  observed  squirrels  eating  the  game 
eggs.  He  has  lived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  New- 
stead  Abbey  for  years,  and  those  grounds  abound 
with  game. 


25S 


HARDWICKE'S    SCI  EN  CE- GOSSIP. 


Univebsity  of  Toronto. — Dr.  Alleyne  Nichol- 
son, lately  Lecturer  on  Natural  History  in  the 
Medical  School  of  Edinburgh,  has  been  appointed 
to  the  Chair  of  Natural  History  in  this  University.— 
Edinburgh  Couraut,  19th  September. 

Insects  and  Elowers. — When  reading  some 
papers  on  butterflies,  by  the  Rev.  J.  Johns,  in  a 
monthly  serial,  I  came  across  a  paragraph  in  which 
the  writer  said  that  Brassica?  and  other  white  but- 
terflies had  a  predilection  for  settling  on  flowers  of 
the  same  colour  as  themselves ;  and  although  I  was 
at  first  inclined  to  doubt  this  statement,  I  resolved 
to  watch  for  myself.  The  result  was,  that  not  only 
am  I  firmly  convinced  that  "Whites  have  a  preference 
for  white  flowers,  but,  going  further  than  this,  I  have 
noticed  that  a  small  bed  of  Nemophila  has  such 
attractions  for  the  Blues  as  to  prevent  their  settling 
on  any  other  flowers.  Moreover,  we  have  in  the 
garden  a  yew-tree  which  is  entirely  surrounded  by 
lilacs  and  other  shrubs  of  a  bright  foliage,  and  yet 
whenever  a  Red  Admiral]  deigns  to  visit  our  de- 
mesne, he  invariably  makes  for  this  yew-tree,  where 
he'is  not  only  safe,  but  entirely  invisible.  I  should 
like  to  hear  if  any  other  readers  of  Science-Gossip 
can  give  similar  accounts. — E.  C.  Lefroy,  2,  Gran- 
ville Place,  BlacJcheath,  S.E. 

Starlings  built  on  St.  Edmund's  Vicarage, 
Gateshead  -on-  Tyne,  in  1S70,  and,  it  is  believed, 
raised  two  broods :  they  returned  in  spring  this 
year,  and  built  one  or  two  nests  ;  one  male  lost  his 
mate  (killed),  and  was  very  disconsolate  for  three 
days,  found  another,  and  raised  the  brood :  they 
returned  again  in  the  summer,  but  it  is  not  quite 
clear  if  a  second  brood  was  raised  :  they  returned 
again  in  September,  and.  were  noticed  on  the  house, 
singing  and  calling,  Oct.  4;  and  this  morning, 
Oct.  G,  1871,  the  young  birds  (three)  were  out  on  the 
roof  sunning  themselves  and  trying  their  wings. 
Is  it  usual  to  breed  so  late  ?  and  so  far  north  ?  Do 
they  remain  all  the  year  ?  and  how  many  broods  do 
they  usually  raise  ?  I  have  not  seen  swallow,  mar- 
tin, or  swift  this  year. — II.  0.  S. 

Parasites  on  Arge  Galatiiea  (p.  233).— I  am 
glad  Mr.  Anderson  has  called  attention  to  the  scar- 
let parasites  found  on  Arge  Galathea,  for  among 
other  good  but  unfulfilled  intentions,  which  want  of 
time  or  more  pressing  business  has  prevented  my 
carrying  out,  is  the  connection  or  non-connection 
between  Tetranychus  lapidus  (Stone  Mite)  and  the 
bright  scarlet  parasite  found  on  Arge  Galathea  and 
other  lepidoptera.  I  say  other  lepidoptera,  because 
I  have  found  [it  on  Salyrus  Semele  (Grayling),  S. 
Megara  (Wall  Argus),  Chortobius  pamphilus  (Small 
Heath),  Lycama  Corydon  (Chalk-hill  Blue),  L.Adonis 
(Clifden  Blue),  'Vanessa  Atalanta  (Red  Admiral) 
once,  V.  urticce  (small  Tortoiseshell)  once,  Bryo- 
phylla  perla,  B.  glandifera,  Plusia  gamma,  Mamestra 
pcrsicaricc,  M.  brassicce,  &c,  as  well  as  on  A.  Gala- 


tkea.    It  is  a  noticeable  fact  that  all,  or  nearly  all, 
the  above  settle  frequently  on  the  ground ;  some, 
in  fact,  like  S.  Semele,  rest  on  stones     Moreover,  I 
have  taken  insects  on  the  Downs,  Box  Hill,  the 
limestone  hills  of  Derbyshire,  &c,   with  the^scar- 
let  parasite  on  them,  and  invariably  have  found  a  very 
large  proportion  of  the  flints,  stones,  or  pieces  of 
rock  lying  about,  covered  or  partially  covered  with 
the  beautiful  eggs  of   T.  lapidus.    The  first  time 
I  noticed  the  parasite  was  some  years  ago,  on  Box 
Hill,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  by  the  pecu- 
liar flight  of  a  male  of  S.  Semele,  upon  securing 
which,  I  found  two  scarlet  parasites  at  the  junction 
of  the  head  and  thorax.    Since  then  I  have  found 
them  attached  to  the  thorax,  abdomen,  and  the 
under-side  of  the  wings ;  in'fact,  I  have  in  my  cabinet 
a  slide  of  the  wing  of  B.  perla,  on  the  under-side 
of  which  are  three  of  the  scarlet  parasites.    The 
more    common  position  on   the  wing  is  near  its 
junction  with  the  thorax.    Now,  seeing  there  is  a 
striking  resemblance  between  T.  lapidus   and  the 
scarlet  parasite,  I  have  thought  that  they  either 
were  the  same,  or,  at  least,  one  of  the  Tetranychi. 
Whether  they  derive  nourishment  from  the  insects 
they  infest,  I  cannot  say,  but  they  undoubtedly  are 
a  source  of  annoyance,    or,  at  least,    a  means  of 
retarding  the  flight  of  the  insects,  which  move  at 
a  much  slower  rate.    I  had  almost  forgotten  that 
a  [house-fly  was  brought  to  me  about  two  years 
since  with  a  similar  scarlet  parasite  upon  it. — T.  W. 
Wonfor,  Brighton. 

Golden  Oriole.— A  pair  of  these  birds  were 
observed  at  Martlesham,  near  this  town,  this  sum- 
mer by  a  gamekeeper,  at  the  time  of.the  pheasants' 
sitting;  so  in  all  probability  they  were  nesting. 
The  man's  attention  was  called  to  them  by  hearing, 
day  after  day,  in  a  certain  place,  what  he  thought 
was  some  one  whistling  to  him  ;  and  at  length  fol- 
lowing up  the  sound,  he  saw  what  he  called  the 
"  yaller  gentlemen  "  on  a  tree ;  of  course  (!)  he  fired 
his  gnn  at  them,  killing  the  hen  bird  only ;  the  male 
escaped,  and  disappeared  from  the  neighbourhood. 
I  think  the  above  fact  worth  recording,  as  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  had  these  pretty  birds  been  left 
unmolested,  another  authenticated  instance  of  their 
breeding  in  this  country  would  have  been  estab- 
lished. I  may  add  that  I  have  seen  the  hen  bird, 
which  has  been  preserved  by  Mr.  Podd,  naturalist, 
of  this  town.—//.  Miller,  Ipswich. 

A  Chicken  with  four  legs  was  hatched  this 
spring  in  this  neighbourhood.  It  was  to  all  appear- 
ance perfectly  formed  in'other  respects,  the  second 
pair  of  legs  being  behind  the  ordinary  ones,  and 
having  three  joints.  It  would  have  been  curious  to 
have  examined  the  little  creature's  anatomy,  but  I 
did  not  see  it  till  it  was  shown  me  by.Mr.  Podd,  who 
had  preserved  it. — H.  Miller. . 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


259 


BOTANY. 

Locust-tree. — In  the  garden  of  the  rectory  at 
Byfleet,  Surrey,  is  a  remarkably  handsome  acacia 
(Robinia  pseudacacia) ,  of  which  I  took  the  dimen- 
sions last  week.  At  four  feet  from  the  ground  it 
measured  13  feet  4  inches  in  circumference.  Is  not 
this  a  most  unusual  size  for  this  tree  to  attain  ? — 
W.  W.  Spicer,  Itchen  Abbas. 

Plant  Names. — Our  contributor,  Mr.  James 
Britten,  E.L.S.,  formerly  of  Kew  Gardens,  should 
be  addressed  at  tbe  Botanical  Department  of  the 
British  Museum,  London,  W.C. 

Local  Eloeas. — Some  useful  chapters  on  this 
subject  have  appeared  in  recent  numbers  of  the 
Gardeners'  Chronicle,  to  which  we  refer  those  of  our 
correspondents  who  seek  further  information. 

Abnormal  Cerastium.  —  Specimens  received 
and  forwarded  to  Mr.  R.  Holland.  The  following 
is  his  relpy : — The  Cerastium  (?)  found  by  your 
correspondent  "  G.  S.  S."  is  a  very  good  and  not 
very  common  example  of  Phyllody  of  sepals,  petals, 
and  in  many  cases  of  stamens  and  pistils.  When  a 
plant  becomes  so  greatly  altered  in  appearance  as 
this  is,  it  is  rather  hard  to  give  it  a  name ;  but  I 
am  inclined  to  think  that  it  is  no  Cerastium  at  all, 
but  an  Arenaria— probably  A.  serpyllifolia,  as 
shown  by  the  short  capsule  in  those  flowers  that 
appear  to  have  seeded,  and  by  the  older  flowers 
growing  in  the  forks  of  the  branches.  The  Ceras- 
iiums  have  capsules  much  longer  than  the  sepals, 
and  in  the  commoner  kinds  the  capsules  are  very 
characteristically  curved ;  and  these  are  neither  one 
nor  the  other.  The  plant  may  have  been  in  a 
normal  state  up  to  a  certain  time,  and  then  taken 
on  this  foliaceous  condition,  on  account  of  the  quan- 
tity of  rain  ;  and  the  earlier  flowers  may  doubtless 
have  had  petals.  But  their  having  seeded  does  not 
in  the  least  show  that  they  had  petals.  They  might 
have  seeded  if  only  the  pistil  were  perfect.  There 
are  scattered  over  the  plants  many  foliaceous 
flowers,  which  contain,  apparently,  perfect  stamens 
and  pistils,  and  these  would  most  likely  have  pro- 
duced seed.  Your  correspondent  mentions  that  he 
found  the  plant  "in^large  quantities;"  and  from 
this  fact  I  should  rather  believe  that  what  he  found 
were  seedlings  from  a  similiarly  foliaceous  plant  of 
last  year,  and  that  they  had  inherited  the  peculiar 
condition  of  their  parent.  The  rainy  weather  would 
scarcely  have  caused  such  a  number  of  plants  in  a 
limited  space  to  have  all  become  monstrous  toge- 
ther, though  some  peculiarity  in  the  soil  might  have 
done  so.  Eoliaceous  clover-flowers  are  plentiful 
every  autumn.  They  appear  chiefly  in  the  second 
crop,  so  that  the  cutting  of  the  first  crop  and  the 


quick  growth  of  the  soft  and  succulent  second 
crop  have  probably  something  to  do  with  producing 
the  monstrosity.  This  year  such  examples  have 
i  been  more  than  usually  common— no  doubt  from 
the  superabundance  of  wet.  Trifolium  pratense,  T. 
repens,  and  especially  T.  Injbridum,  have  been  very 
proliferous;  but  I  have  not  seen  a  single  example 
in  any  of  the  yellow  trefoils;  indeed,  I  do  not 
remember  that  I  have  ever  seen  a  yellow  trefoil 
becoming  foliaceous. — Robert  Holland. 

CYSTorus  lepigoni. — I  found  this  fungus  on 
Spergalaria  marina  at  Eareham,  Hants,  on  18th  of 
September  last.  I  believe  that  Swanscombe,  in 
Kent,  is  the  only  locality  previously  recorded. — 
F.  J.  Warner. 

The  Bee  Orchis. — This  beautiful  flower  is  com- 
mon in  this  neighbourhood  on  the  barren  wet  marls 
of  the  forest  marble  and  fuller's  earth,  and  also  on 
the  chalk  downs.  It  is,  however,  a  very  uncertain 
bloomer :  one  year  it  is  met  with  abundantly ; 
another,  as  the  present,  it  is  hardly  to  be  found. 
The  profusion  of  Orchidea:  on  our  marly  soils  con- 
trasts strongly  with  their  scarcity  in  the  London 
district :  in  one  field  I  can  count  twelve  species, 
including  Spiranthes  autumnalis  and  Herminium 
Monorchis. — H.  F.  Parsons,  Beckingion. 

Transmission  of  Eresh  Elowers  by  Post. — 
I  have  found  flowers  keep  fresh  for  long  distances, 
if  wrapped  up  in  oiled  silk  or  sheet  gutta-percha. 
The  ends  of  the  stems  should  be  wrapped  in  damp 
cotton  wool,  and  the  overlapping  edges  of  the  oiled 
silk  gummed  down  all  the  way  round.— H.  F. 
Parsons. 

Bare  Plants. — I  am  sorry  that  Mr.  Delaney 
should  think  that  in  giving  publicity  to  one  of  the 
localities  where  the  Bee  Orchis  is  to  be  found,  I 
had  made  any  unadvisable  use  of  my  information. 
I  entirely  agree  with  Mr.  Delaney  in  the  main,  but 
think  that  in  this  instance  he  carries  his  theory 
somewhat  too  far,  whilst  endeavouring  to  guard 
against  those  persons  whose  object,  as  he  describes, 
"  is  to  secure  for  their  own  selfish  gratification  any- 
rare  plant."  We  must  also  remember,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  there  are  many  others  to  whom  such 
knowledge  would  be  really  a  service,  and  whose 
good  sense  and  moderation  might  fairly  be  trusted, 
amongst  whom  the  generality  of  the  readers  of 
Science-Gossip  I  think  might  be  classed.—/.  S.  W., 
Durham. 

[During  the  past  week  facts  have  come  to 
our  knowledge  of  more  than  one  instance  in 
which  botanists  (and  not  dealers)  have  eradi- 
cated rare  ferns  from  certain  localities  by  their 
rapacity.  Let  us  hope  that  such  cases  are  rare. — 
Ed.  S.-G.] 


200 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICKOSCOPY. 

Mickoguapiiic  Dictionary.— The  attention  of 
our  microscopical  readers  is  directed  to  the  fact 
that  a  new  edition  of  the  well-known  "  Micrographic 
Dictionary"  is  now  in  course  of  publication  by 
Van  Voorst,  in  monthly  parts,  of  which  two  have 
already  appeared.  This  work  is  too  well  known  to 
require  commendation,  and  is,  in  fact,  not  only  a 
standard  book,  but  the  only  one  of  the  kind  at  all 
comprehensive  in  character. 

Amplification  (p.  236).— "E.  A.  E.'s"  remarks 
are  certainly  not  uncalled  for,  more  especially  as  a 
variation  of  magnifying  power  frequently  alters  the 
appearance  of  an  object  so  entirely  as  to  make  it 
unrecognizable ;  but,  even  when  the  magnifying 
power  of  an  instrument  tallies  approximately  with 
that  of  a  given  engraving,  it  but  too  often  happens 
that  a  large  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  imagi- 
nation of  the  artist,  who  fills  in  the  details  according 
to  his  idea ;  also  difference  in  size,  &c,  must  be 
allowed  for,  as  illustrations  would  naturally  be  made 
from  the  best  and  most  perfect  specimens  obtain- 
able, which  may  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  talent 
or  purse  of  the  amateur. — &  P.  P. 

Scale  of  Perch. — Although  on  a  fomer  occa- 
sion we  gave  an  illustration  of  this  favourite  fish- 
scale,  it  was  not  on  the  whole  satisfactory,  and 
would  not  compare  with  the  scales  recently  figured, 
in  point  of  art.    "We  have  now  produced  a  more 


Nostoc. — Surprise  has  been  excited  in  the  minds 
of  some  of  our  correspondents  on  account  of  a  green 
gelatinous  substance  found  recently,  after  rainy 
weather,  upon  grass,  gravel  walks,  &c,  and  which 
some  have  supposed  to  be  a  fungus.  This  is  really 
one  of  those  curious  organisms  which  the  scientific 
call  Nostoc,  and  which  they  refer  to  the  Alga?,  or 
family  of  Water-weeds.  There  are  several  species 
of  them,  and  five  or  six  have  been  found  in  Britain, 
one  or  two  being  purely  aquatic.  The  internal 
structure  in  all  is  remarkably  alike,  consisting  of 
beaded,  undulating  threads,  immersed  in  gelatine. 
There  is  a  great  deal  connected  with  the  life-history 
of  these  bodies  which  requires  working  out,  and 
many  points  deserve  study  and  investigation.  It 
will  be  observed,  on  examining  the  substance  with  a 
quarter-inch  objective,  that  the  threads  are  made  up 
of  a  series  of  spherical  bodies,  which  are  coloured, 


Fig.  154.  Scale  of  Perch. 

worthy  portrait  of  this  scale,  which  has  so  deserv. 
edly  obtained  a  name  and  place  in  almost  every 
rollection,  and  with  it  we  fear  that  our  examples  of 
the  scales  of  fresh-water  fishes  have  almost  come  to 
;m  end. 


Fig.  155.  Nostoc  commune,  nat.  size. 


0<gpOCOG->' 


QOOO 


8  W^ 


c 


n  dr?       o  (J  ^oSoc&tA        P  P,     °  ^' 
8°9, 1  °In  -co^ooq^^cP  J&° 


_     D     o°o 

\8  so 


Qn   00^000  qS^^-cPrpo0?-, 


Fig.  156.  Nostoc  commune,  x  320. 

and  slightly  attached  to  each  other,  like  beads  on  a 
string.  Here  and  there  one  sphere  is  larger  than 
the  rest,  and  often  these  larger  spheres  are  also  free 
from  the  threads,  amongst  the  gelatine.  It  is  more 
suspected  than  really  known  that  these  larger  bodies 
are  concerned  in  the'reproductive  process,  and  that 
they  are  sporangia,  or  something  of  that  kind.  Our 
object  now  is  to  indicate  that  these  green  gelatinous 
masses  are  called  Nostoc  commune  ;  that  they  have 
constituted  in  some  countries  (China,  for  instance) 
a  portion  of  human  food  ;  and  that  any  one  with 
leisure  will  find  in  them  an  object  worthy  of  study 
and  elucidation. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


2G1 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 

Blue-bottles  once  more. — Can  you,  or  any  of 
your  many  practical  readers,  help  me  in  the  removal 
of  what  is  to  me  a  very  great  nuisance?  In  Science- 
Gossip,  vol.  iv.  page  234,  and  vol.  v.  page  262,  I 
have  given  a  description  of  my  "  plague  of  flies,"  to 
which,  for  local  particulars,  I  would  refer.  Last  year, 
1S70,  during  ten  or  twelve  days  in  August,  I  caught 
in  my  study  3,303  blue-bottles— viz.,  August  6th, 
497;'Sth,  341;  9th,  470;  10th,  437;  12th,  415; 
13th,  453 ;  15th,  130 ;  16th,  360 ;  17th,  205 ;  and 
smaller  numbers  afterwards  :  but  I  was  from  home 
all  September,  and  after  that  the  weather  was 
colder,  and  they  disappeared.  This  year,  1S71,  they 
have  been  worse  than  ever.  The  3rd  of  March  was 
very  mild,  and  I  caught  555 ;  but  after  that,  until 
the  7th  of  August,  their  numbers  were  not  impor- 
tant. On  the  7th  I  caught  750;  8th,  500;  9th, 
783;  10th,  568  ;  11th,  750;  12th,  1,032;  14th,  1,600; 
making  5,9S3  in  a  week;  when  I  was  compelled 
almost  to  abandon  my  study,  and  leave  the  blue- 
bottles in  full  possession.  No  matter  whether  the 
windows  were  ©pen  or  shut,  in  they  came,  through 
every  crevice ;  and  though  I  cleared  the  room  at 
dusk,  as  soon  as  I  lighted  the  gas,  they  were  out 
again,  buzzing  through  the  flame,  and  falling  wing- 
less and  spinning  on  my  writing-paper;  so  that 
study,  in  my  study,  became  an  impossibility.  I  should 
be  glad  to  know  what  induces  them  to  come ;  and 
if  any  one  can  suggest  a  remedy,  or  how  I  am  to 
get  rid  of  what  is  now  an  intolerable  nuisance. — 
H.  O.  S.,  St.  Edmund's  Vicarage,  Gateshead. 

Stings. — Will  any  of  your  readers  kindly  refer 
me  to  any  book  which  gives  an  account  of  the 
action  of  the  various  stings,  beginning  with  that  of 
the  nettle  ?  I  want  to  know  how  the  poison  gets 
into  the  wound  so  rapidly  when  an  insect  stings  you, 
and,  in  the  case  of  the  nettle,  if  there  is  any  poison, 
and  the  mechanical  action  which  takes  place ;  in 
short,  I  want  to  know  "all  about  it." — /.  W.  IF. 

Cystea  Montana. — The  Rev.  Hugh  Macmillan, 
in  his  book  "  Holidays  on  High  Lands,"  at  page  67, 
says  of  this  plant :  "Its  original  centre  of  distribution 
seems  to  be  the  Rocky  Mountains  of  America,  for 
there  it  occurs  in  the  utmost  luxuriance  and  pro- 
fusion." Will  this  author,  or  any  of  your  numerous 
readers,  give,  through  your  columns,  the  authorities 
for  this  statement  of  fact?  In  the  "The  British 
Ferns,"  Sir  Wm.  Hooker  says,  "We  possess  five 
specimens  from  the  east  side  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, gathered  by  Drummond ;"  which  is  all  that 
is  known  here  of  its  occurence  in  that  locality. — 
B.  W. 

Bait  for  Soles. — "  C.  L.  J."  will  find  that  soles 
will  take  any  of  the  following  baits :— Soft  crab, 
soldier-crab,  lug-worm,  mussel,  shrimp,  and  rag- 
worm.  The  most  killing  bait  I  am  acquainted  with 
is  the  tail  of  the  soldier-crab  ;  but  he  must  have 
proper  gear,  and  must  fish  at  the  proper  time,  or  he 
must  not  expect  to  get  a  bite.  Soles  are  caught  by 
the  trawl  at  all  times  and  seasons, — they  cannot 
escape  from  that  ruinously  destructive  engine ;  but 
they  only  come  to  the  hook  when  they  are  them- 
selves searching  for  food.  They  are  mostly  "  on 
the  feed  "  at  night,  and  it  is  useless  to  put  lines  out 
for  them  on  bright  sunny  days,  when  the  water  is 
as  clear  as  crystal.  Hardly  any  kind  of  fish  will 
bite  when  the  sunlight  penetrates  freely  to  the 


bottom  of  the  water.    For  sole-fishing  especially, 
the  most  favourable  time  is  after  a  blow,  when  the 
water  is  thick;  and  a  land  breeze  answers  better 
than  a  sea  breeze.  All  sea-fish  bite  more  freely  after 
a  heavy  blow,   in  the  first  lull  after  a  gale,  and 
while  the  water  is  still  turbid  from  the  commo- 
tion.    The  soft  tail  of  the  soldier-crab  {Pagums 
Bernhardus)  is  the  most  seductive  bait  I  know  ;  and 
long  gut  snoods   should   be  used.      The  "Trot," 
alias  "  Boulter  "  or  "  Long  Line,"  laid  out  in  the 
evening,  is  the  most  effectual  contrivance,  next  to 
the  trawl,  for  catching  ground  fish.    The  "  Ledger- 
trot  "  is  a  capital  contrivance  for  amateurs  who  do 
not  care  to  be  out  late,  and  to  be  bothered  with  the 
entanglements  of  the  "  Trot  "  proper.    These  "  gut 
ledger  trots,  for  fiat  fish,"  are  admirably  fitted  by 
Mr.  Hearder,  of  195,  Union-street,  Plymouth,  at  a 
very  moderate  charge.    Another  plan  is  to  fasten  a 
gut  snood,  four  or  five  feet  in  length,  to  an  eye  or 
loop  in  a  common  lead  sinker.  The  latter  is  allowed 
to  rest  on  the  bottom,  being  slightly  raised  occa- 
sionally to  feel  for  a  bite.    The  snood  is  furnished 
with  a  hook  at  the  end,  and  with  one  or  two  other 
hooks  knotted  on  at  intervals.    Flat  fish  are  very 
inquisitive.     The  moment  one  is  hooked,  or  is  busy 
sucking  at  a  bait,  half  a  dozen  others  are  sure  to 
come  to  see  what  he  is  about,  and  to  commence 
searching  all  round  him.    It  is  pleasant  to  haul  up 
two  or  three  good  broad-backs  at  a  time.     The  sole 
does  not  strike  at  the  bait,  but  sucks  it  in,  and 
requires  time  to  hook  himself.     The  flesh  of  the 
Pecten  is  used  for  a  bait  in  some  places.    Let  our 
friend  "C.  L.  J."  examine  the  contents  of  the 
stomachs  of  half  a  dozen  soles  taken  in  his  neigh- 
bourhood, and  he  will  soon  find  out  the  best  bait. 
He  must  remember  that,  like  most  other  fish,  they 
do  not  bite  all  the  year  round.    They  are  biting 
freely  now  on  this  part  of  the  coast.     We  shall  be 
glad  to  hear  if  he  meets  with  any  luck  with  the 
"ledger-trot"  and  the  "tail  of  a  sojer."    The  in- 
fernal trawls  are  exterminating  our  coast  fishes. 
The  next  time  "  C.  L.  J."  goes  out  in  a  trawler,  let 
him  count  the  number  of  well-grown  marketable 
fish  taken  during  the  trip,  and  let  him  also  count 
the  number  of  immature  fish  and  young  fry  that  are 
hauled  up  and  destroyed,  being  either  dead  by  the 
time  they  are  hoisted  on  board,  or  left  on  the  deck 
uutil  they  die ;  and  let  him  publish  the  result  in 
Science-Gossip,  or  send  it  to  me.    If  the  fisher- 
men would  only  take  the  trouble  to  put  back  the 
young  unripe  fish  into  the  sea  alive,  the  murderous 
mischief  would  be  much  lessened;   but,  as  it  is, 
they  destroy  the  young  fish,  by  tens  of  millions,  in 
the  most  careless,  reckless  way.    Shall  we  ever  be 
wise  enough  to  protect  our  sea  fisheries  as  we  have 
protected  our  salmon  fisheries  ?    I  suppose  we  shall 
not.    The  salmon  rivers  mostly  belong  to  powerful 
corporations   and   wealthy  and  influential  landed 
proprietors,  who   have  both   intelligence   and  in- 
terest enough  to  obtain  protection  for  their  own 
fisheries;   but  the  sea,  the  poor  man's  fishery,  is 
harried  by  every  description  of  poacher,  in  season 
and  out  of  season ;  and  the  laws  thereanent,  though 
sufficiently  stringent,  are  allowed  to  lie  dormant. 
They  have  become  a  dead  letter ;  and  the  fish  are 
nearly   extinct    on   some    parts   of  our  coasts. — 
Major  Holland,  Bury  Cross,  Gosport. 

Preserving  Grasses,  &c. — Some  kind  reader  of 
Science-Gossip  would  greatly  oblige  by  informing 
me  what  preparation  is  used  to  preserve  grasses, 
ferns,  &c,  for  the  decoration  of  cases  of  stuffed 
animals. — Robert  Laddiman,  Norwich. 


262 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Kestrel's  Egg  (p.  237).— In  answer  to  your 
correspondent  "C.  H.  G.,"  I  beg  to  say  that  it  is  a 
very  common  occurrence  for  the  markings  on  birds' 
eggs  to  disappear  on  being  wiped  or  rubbed,  par- 
ticularly if  the  rag  or  towel  be  used  when  wet.  The 
spots  on  the  eggs  of  the  chaffinch,  the  buntings, 
and  some  of  the  hawks,  are  easily  rubbed  off.  Red 
markings  are  more  easily  rubbed  away  than  other 
colours.  By  red  I  also  mean  purple-red,  brownish- 
red,  &c. — W.  H.  Warner,  Kingston. 

Oak  Eggar  (p.  288).— Is  "R.  L.  N."  aware  that 
the  caterpillar  of  this  moth  hatches  in  August, 
hybernates  through  the  winter,  and  appears  in 
March ;  consequently  that  _  its  appearance  in  the 
third  week  in  April  is  nothing  unusual  ?  My  note 
on  p.  161  was  not  inserted  in  the  light  of  a  query, 
but  merely  to  register  what  I  then  considered  as  a 
somewhat  uncommon  occurrence  ;  but  now  I  find  I 
was  mistaken,  as  Mr.  Henderson  mentions  having 
had  a  pupa  of  this  moth  on  one  occasion  so  early  as 
May  7th,  while  at  the  time  of  my  writing  the  note 
(May  6th)  my  caterpillars  had  not  even  spun  their 
ocoons. — W.  H.  Warner,  Kingston.  . 

Cleaning  Skeletons.— I  have  read  that  a  good 
method  of  cleaning  the  skeletons  of  small  animals- 
fish,  for  instance — is  to  suspend  them  horizontally 
in  a  jar  of  pond-water  in  which  a  couple  of  dozen  or 
more  hungry  tadpoles  are  revelliug.  A  few  months 
ago  I  saw  a  great  number  of  these  voracious  little 
reptiles  busily  engaged  on  what  had  once  been  a' large 
rat.  The  process  would  no  doubt  be  further  ad- 
vanced by  previously  skiuning  the  specimen. 
Probably  minnows  would  answer  as  well  as  tad- 
poles. The  water  in  the  jar  should  be  changed 
occasionally. — W.  H .Warner,  Kingston. 

Clausilia  parvula.  —  A  corresponds  of 
Science-Gossip  some  few  months  since,  unless  I 
am  much  mistaken,  expressed  a  desire  for  speci- 
mens of  this  shell.  This  morning  I  have  just  dis- 
covered a  few,  collected  in  Heidelberg  some  years 
since :  if  he  will  send  me  stamped  and  directed 
envelope,  I  shall  have  much  pleasure  in  forwarding 
him  half  a  dozen  specimens. — John  E.  Daniel,  6,  The 
Terrace,  Epsom. 

A  Gigantic  Duck  Egg.— The  Manchester  Guar- 
dian of  the  4th  October  contains  the  following 
paragraph : — "  Mr.  Thomhill,  of  Crumpsall  Green, 
near  Manchester,  recently  found  one  of  his  ducks 
dead  upon  her  nest.  She  had!  been  ailing]  for  some 
months,  and  could  neither'^eat  nor  lay.  The  body 
was  opened,  and  there  was  taken  from  it  an  egg, 
which  we  have  seen,  and  which  measures  18^  inches 
in  its  greater  circumference,  15f  (inches  at  the 
smaller  circumference,  and  its  capacity  is  2\  pints 
of  water.  It  contained  three  yolks,  and  after  they 
had  been  drawn  the  shell  weighed  eight  ounces. 
The  duck  was  a  cross  between  a  Muscovy  and  an 
Aylesbury,  of  the  ordinary  size." — G.  H.  H. 

Parasites  on  Arge  Galathea  (p.  233).— Al- 
though the  heading  of  my  communication  on  this 
subject  in  last  month's  Science-Gossip  isjcorrect, 
there  are  one  or  two  typographical  errors  following, 
which  may  tend  somewhat  to  mislead.  The  para- 
sites were  "  on,"  not  "  in,"  the  specimens  1  ex- 
amined.— Joseph  Anderson,  Jun.,  Alresford,  Hants. 

Colour  of  Eggs  (p.  237).  —  I  can  inform 
"  C.  H.  G."  that  I  have  found  the  colour  of  many 


eggs  will  come  off,  especially  if  wiped  soon  after 
they  have  been  laid.  I  have  frequently  tried  this 
with  the  eggs  of  the  Song  Thrush,  and  have  removed 
a  great  portion  of  the  spots.  After  an  egg  has  been 
kept  some  little  time,  the  colour  becomes  firmer  set. 
The  markings  of  the  Hawk's  egg  are  particularly 
liable  to  removal. — /.  A.,  Jun.,  Alresford. 

Erratum,  at  p.  221. — For  Sertularia  geniculata 
read  Sertularia  pumila. — 0.  M. 

Snake's  Skin.— On  September  19th  I  found  a 
very  fine  cast-off  skin  of  the  common  Ringed  Snake 
{Natrix  torquata)  whilst  searching  for  insects  on 
the  Oxfordshire  hills.  It  measures  3  feet  5 -J-  inches, 
though  a  little  must  be  allowed  for  its  stretching 
when  pulled  off;  it  is  quite  perfect  down  to  the 
skin  of  the  lips  and  eyes,  and  may  be  inflated  like  a 
balloon.  I  found  it  so  entangled  amongst  rank 
grasses,  Alopecurus  and  Phleum  pratense,  that  it  was 
not  easily  extricated.  As  it  is  such  a  large  speci- 
men, perhaps  the  above  notes  may  interest  natural- 
ists or  lovers  of  reptiles. — John  Henderson. 

Hawfinch. — The  other  day  I  saw  a  pair  of  eggs 
of  this  bird  in  a  friend's  cabinet;  they  were  taken  in 
a  fir  plantation,  about  five  miles  from  Reading,  in 
May,  1869.  I  have  a  stuffed  male  in  good  plumage, 
which  was  shot  in  Worcestershire  ;  and  some  years 
ago  the  head  of  another  was  brought  to  me  for 
identification :  this  last  came  from  an  orchard  near 
Earley,  Berks.—/.  Henderson. 

Egg  of  Kestrel  (p.  237).— "C.  H.  G.'s"  com- 
munication is  by  no  means  a  singular  one.  I  find 
the  colouring  matter  will  come  off  the  shells  of 
Merlin,  Sparrow-hawk,  Carrion  Crow,  Plover,  and 
several  others  besides  the  Kestrel.  One  of  my  eggs 
of  the  latter  hawk  is  of  a  very  rich  dark  brown, 
and  another  is  of  a  white  or  cream  colour. — J.  Hen- 
derson. 

Worms.— In  a  lecture  delivered  in  Manchester 
in  1866  or  '67,  Dr.  Alcock  said,— speaking  of  the 
common  earthworm, — "  I  was  surprised  to  see  that 
a  very  considerable  number  of  the  worms  I  obtained 
had  _  new  tails :  it  was  evident  they  were  not  the 
original  tails,  because  they  were  badly  fitted  ;  they 
were  smaller  in  proportion  than  the  rest  of  the  body, 
as  well  as  paler  in  colour ;"  and  further  on  he  says, 
"  The  worm  goes  back  into  its  hole,  and  grows  a 
new  tail."  But  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  in  "Common 
Objects  of  the  Seashore,"  folio  95,  says  of  the  earth- 
worm, that  it  "is  not  capable  of  producing  a  fresh 
tail,  or  even  of  forming  a  single  fresh  ring."  Have 
any  of  your  readers  any  experience  as  to  which  of 
these  statements  is  correct,  or  can  they  refer  to  other 
authorities  on  the  subject? — E.  P.  P. 

Deiopeia  pulchella.— Mr.  J.  Gatcombe,  at 
page  239  of  Science-Gossip,  states  that  the  cater- 
pillar of  Deiopeia  pulchella  has  never  been  taken  in 
this  country.  I  beg  to  undeceive  him,  and  acquaint 
him  that  in  the  year  1842  a  lady  of  my  acquaintance 
took  no  less  than  nine  on  a  clump  of  the  field  Eor- 
get-me-not  (Myosotis  arvensis)  in  a  field  between 
lsleham  and  Eordham,  in  Cambridgeshire.  They 
were  retained  for  some  time  in  the  breeding-eage, 
and  when  just  in  that  restless  stage  which  precedes 
their  change  to  the  chrysalis,  they  were  unfortunately 
lost  through  the  stupid  curiosity  of  a  servant-boy, 
who  left  the  cage-door  open  in  a  hurried  flight  to 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


263 


escape  the  detection  of  his  prying.  Both  the  lady 
and  myself  well  knew  the  larvae  from  description 
and  drawings.  I  may  add  we  became  well  ac- 
quainted with  it  in  Ceylon  subsequently ;  also  that 
it  is  found  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. — E.  L. 
Layard, 

Small  Eggar.— It  may  interest  Mr.  Henderson, 
of  Reading,  to  know  that  the  experiences  of  a 
brother  lepidopterist  this  year,  in  the  rearing  of  the 
Small  Eggar,  have  resembled  his  own.  I  took  a 
large  colony  of  the  larvae  from  a  thorn  in  the  early 
summer.  They  were  quite  young,  and  fed  and  pros- 
pered in  the  most  hopeful  manner  up  to  the  last 
moult ;  then,  one  by  one,  they  became  flaccid  and 
thin,  anddied,  generally  collapsing  in  the  middle, 
and  hanging  across  a  twig  of  the  food-plant.  I  can- 
not tell  whether  any  passed  into  the  pupa  state, 
unobserved  by  me,  as  my  breeding-cage  is  a  large 
one,  and,  in  the  season,  occupied  by  a  great  number 
of  larvae,  and  large  branches  of  various  foliage;  but 
my  fear  is  that  I  am  not  destined  to  be  the  happy 
possessor  of  Eriogaster  lanestris  from  this  gathering. 
I  left  at  least  a  third  of  the  colony  in  their  natural 
habitat,  so  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  I 
have  not  exterminated  a  whole  brood. — H.  G.  W. 
Aubrey. 

Fox-moth  LakVjE  {Bombyx  rubi). — Erom  infor- 
mation received,  I  visited  Mablethorpe,  on  the  East 
Lincolnshire  coast,  to  see  (as  my  friend  said)  the 
caterpillars.  I  must  say  I  never  saw  such  a  sight ; 
although  I  have  been  a  collector  and  breeder  for  a 
long  time,  I  have  never  found  one  of  the  Fox  larvae 
in  thispart  of  Lincolnshire  before.  I  found  them  feed- 
ing in  thousands  on  the  sea-buckthorn  or  common 
sallow-thorn  (Hippophde  rhamnoides),  a  shrub  grow- 
ing in  patches  very  plentifully  on  the  sea-hills.  I  also 
find  this  (to  me)  extraordinary  circumstance  is  not 
confined  to  Mablethorpe.  I  found  them  very  plenti- 
fully at  Sutton,  Huttoft,  and  Chapel,  two,  four,  and 
seven  miles  distant.  I  have  made  every  inquiry  of 
the  natives,  but  cannot  find  any  one  who  ever  saw 
them  before.  The  food -plant  seems  (to  me)  worthy 
of  consideration.  I  have  never  heard  of  this  species 
feeding  on  the  sea-buckthorn  :  bramble  is  generally 
described  as  its  food-plant.  This  also  grows  very 
plentifully  on  the  sea-hills,  but  not  one  larva  could 
I  find  on  the  bramble.  I  collected  about  600,  and 
have  them  now  (Oct.  3),  feeding.  After?  allowing 
the  sea-buckthorn  to  get  stale,  I  gave  them  fresh 
bramble  and  sallow:  a  few  took  to  the  sallow,  but 
less  to  the  bramble.  Again  giving  them  the  sea- 
buckthorn,  they  at  once  left  the  other  food.  This 
being  a  hibernating  species,  I  shall  be  very  glad 
to  hear|from  any  collector  on  the  best  manner  of 
treatment. — R.  Garfit,  Market  Square,  Alford,  Lin- 
colnshire. 

Woodlark  (p.  233). — With  reference  to  an 
article,  by  Mr.  Drew,  on  this  bird,  I  am  pleased  to 
say  that  it  is  by  no  means  uncommon  in  this  part 
of  Hampshire. — /.  A.,  Jim.,  Alresford. 

The  Clifden  Nonpareil  (Catocala  fraxini) . — 
This  beautiful  moth  being  a  rare  British  species,  I 
thought  it  would  not  be  uninteresting  to  many 
readers  of  the  Science-Gossip  to  know  that  a  very 
fine  specimen  of  it  had  been  captured  in  this  part  of 
Lincolnshire.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  had  the  plea- 
sure of  capturing  this  gem  (being  no  entomologist), 
sent  it  to  me  on  September  17  (at  the  same  time 
asking  if  it  was  any  use),  with  the  following  remarks: 


"  I  was  standing  yesterday  in  the  Gas-house  yard, 
Hodgethorpe  (7  miles  from  here),  when  this  moth 
dropped  from  a  building;  it  was  very  weak,  and  could 
not  fly.  I  took  it  up  by  its  legs ;  it  appeared  to  gather 
strength  quickly :  I  conclude  it  had  just  come  out 
of  its  shell." — 72.  Garfit,  Market  Square,  Alford, 
Lincolnshire. 

Bath  WniTE. — It  may  interest  some  of  your 
entomological  readers  to  hear  that  a  very  fair  speci- 
men of  the  Bath  White  (Pieris  daplidice)  was 
caught  on  Eriday  last  in  a  field  at  the  end  of  the 
"  Lias  "  at  Folkestone.  The  lucky  captor  was,  as 
usual,  a  young  and  inexperienced  collector,  who 
mistook  it  at  first  for  an  ordinary  small  garden- 
white.  The  specimen  is  now  in  my  brother's  col- 
lection.— Jacob  John  Jonas,  Sept.  5, 1871. 

British  Tortoises.— In  the  autumn  of  1862  the 
female  of  a  pair  of  tortoises,  kept  in  the  garden  of 
Wm.  Williams,  Esq.,  of  Tregullow,  Cornwall,  was 
observed  by  the  gardener  laying  some  eggs  in  the 
border'of  one  of  the  paths ;  he  removed  them  in 
a^fiowerpot  to  the  hothouse,  where,  in  time,  two 
minute  tortoises  were  hatched.  About  the  same 
time  the  following  year  one  more  was  reared,  the 
previous  two  at  that  time  being  active  and  healthy. 
— U.  Budge. 

Squirrels. — As  a  lover  of  squirrels,  there  is  a 
point  I  should  very  much  like  to  see  cleared  up, 
but  which  has  not  been  alluded  to  by  any  of  your 
correspondents  who  have  recently  written  about 
these  interesting  rodents.  Is  it  a  fact  that  the 
squirrel  nibbles  off  the  young  shoots  of  pines  and  firs 
to  such  an  extent  as  to  strew  the  ground  ?  This  is 
the  reason  I  have  frequently  heard  given  for  the  order 
for  their  extermination ;  and  if  the  charge  is  correct, 
it  appears  to  me  to  be  a  much  more  serious  one 
than  the  occasional  taking  of  eggs,  or  even  slaughter 
of  small  birds.— W.  E.  L. 

Canine  Predilection  tor  Fruit. — We  have  a 
little  terrier  which  is  remarkable  for  a  very  bad 
temper  and  a  great  liking  for  all  kinds  of  fruit, 
but  especially  gooseberries  and  nuts.  She  will  go 
to  a  gooseberry-bush,  pick  the  ripe  fruit,  suck 
them,  and  reject  the  skins ;  she  will  also  search 
under  the  nut-trees  for  any  fallen  clusters,  free  the 
nuts  from  their  husks,  crack  them  with  her  teeth, 
and  extract  and  eat  the  kernels. — W.  M.  A.  W. 


NATURALISTS'  FIELD  CLUBS. 

Belfast  Naturalists  '  Field  Club.— William 
Gray,  6,  Mount  Charles,  Belfast ;  Hugh  Robinson, 
3,  Donegall  Street,  Belfast,  Honorary  Secretaries. 

Peterborough  Natueal  History  Society. — 
Secretary,  Mr.  H.  English,  Palmerston  Road, Wood- 
stone,  Peterborough. 

Birmingham  Naturalists'  Field  Club. — 
Alfred  Shrive,  66,  New  Summer-street,  Birming- 
ham, Honorary  Secretary. 

Liverpool  Naturalists'  Field  Club. — Rev. 
W.  Banister,  B.A.,  Royal  Institution,  Liverpool, 
Honorary  Secretary. 

Woolhope  Naturalists'  Field  Club— Arthur 
Thompson,  St.  Nicholas  Street,  Hereford,  Assistant 
Secretary. 


264 


HARDVVICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


All  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  be 
addressed  to  the  Pubi.ishkr.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  nan  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  the 
writer, not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term  ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  in  ihem. 


B.  W.  P. — The  eggs  of  some  insect. 

A.  B. —  1.  Coleosnorium  Tussilaginis.  2.  Oak  spangles 
(galls).     3.  Plocamium  coccineum. 

W.  W.  S. — Larva  of  Strachia  splendida,  Blanch.,  the  range 
of  which  extends  from  Mexico  to  Rio  Janeiro. 

St.  E. — Consult  any  elementary  work  on  optics. 

H.  W.  M.— Without  charge. 

S.  R.  The  same  thing  has  been  recorded  in  our  pages. 

F.  J.  W.  —A  common  monstrosity  of  Juncus  sqmtrrosus. — B. 

J.  S.  R.—Poa  procumbens.—  B . 

R.  McK. — 1.  Brttrliypodium  syloaticum,  with  shorter  awns 
than  usual.  2.  Difficult  to  determine,— it  is  not  typical 
Erythraa  pulchella.  3.  Equisetum  palvstre,  jS.  polystuchyon. 
— B. 

E.  B. — We  do  not  know  the  object  to  which  you  refer. 
H.  W.— Country  life  has  long  since  gone  out. 

A.  H.— Not  "  in  our  line." 

W.  A.  C— Egg-case  of  Cockroach. 

V.  S.  wants  to  know  why  honey  is  sometimes  pink  in  the 
ccmb. 

W.  N. —  White  moles  are  not  great  rarities.  The  other 
query,  we  regret  that  we  cannot  help  you. 

C.  H.  M. — We  think  that  enough  has  been  done. 

T.  W.  H. — We  gave  in  a  former  volume  all  the  information 
which  could  be  obtained  on  methods  of  preparing  caterpillars 
lor  the  cabinet. 

F.  B.— It  is  a  fungus  called  Rccstelia  cancelluta. 
C.  E. — A  marine  plant,  Zostera  marina. 

W.  H.  W.  —  It  was  received. 

J.  L. — By  a  rose-cutting  Bee. 

H.N. — Carpenter's  "  Use  of  the  Microscope"  (price  I2s., 
Churchill)  will  answer  both  purposes.  We  never  recommend 
opticians  to  our  subscribers. 

B.  B.,  Jun.— The  Candle-snuff  fungus,  Xylaria  hypoxylon, 
figured  in  the  present  volume. 

J.  D.  T.— Mudd's  "  Manual  of  British  Lichens  "  (now  out  of 
print).  Lindsay's  "Popular  History  of  British  Lichens'* 
(Routledge).  Leighton's  "  British  Lichens"  (just  published 
at  Ids.). 

J.  S,  R.— The  grass  is  a  Sclerochloa,  probably  S.  procum- 
heris,  Beauv.,  but  in  a  bad  s-tate  for  examination.  1,2.  It  is 
impossible  to  name  ferns  from  scraps  of  barren  fronds.— B. 

T.  W.— Can  you  send  better  specimens  ?— B. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.  — Only  one  "  Exchange  ''  can  bo  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britain;  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  Hi-tory  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Campanula  patui.a  and  Hymenophyllum  WiUoni  for 
other  British  plants.— F.  T.  Mott,  l,  De  Montfort  Street, 
Leicester. 

European  Lepidoptera.— For  price-list  of  European 
specimens  of  rare  British  and  allied  species  ot  Lepidoptera, 
enclose  stamped  directed  envelope  to  H.  W.  MarsCen,  Regent 
street,  Gloucester. 

Gaoea  lutea,  Draba.  m-iralis,  Aetna  spicata,  Carer  r/igi. 
tata,  C.parculoxe,  &c,  in  exchange  for  other  British  plants. 

British  and  Foreign  for  British  Lepidoptera.— Send  lists 
of  collection  and  duplicates  to  E.  C.  Lefroy,  2,  Granville 
Place,  Blackheath,  S.E. 


Ancylus  fi.uviatilis,  var.  albida,  in  exchange  for  British 
shells.— C.  Robinson,  22,  Broughton  Road,  Salford. 

Mosses  from  Scotland  for  British  or  European  Mosses  or 
JungermaMii&.—T.  H.,  Highfield,  Sydenham  Hill,  London. 

Fronds  of  various  ferns,  showing  fructification,  for  other 
good  objects.— W.  B.  Marshall,  16,  Chaucer  Street,  Notting- 
ham. 

For  Dendritic  Spots  on  paper  send  stamped  and  directed 
envelope  and  object  of  interest  to  H.  Gilbert,  45,  St.  George's 
Road,  Peckham. 

Polariscope  Crystals,  Mounted,  wanted  for  Spicules  of 
Gorgonia  Hommomello  and  others  named.— W.  Freeman,  165, 
Maxey  Road,  Plnmstead. 

Wanted  Microscopic  Slides  for  unmounted  material, 
scales  of  sea  fish,  &c— Rev.  Samuel  A.  Breiian,  Agolagh, 
Cushendun,  co.  Antrim. 

Pyrola  rotundifolia  wanted  for  ferns,  as  per  list,  on 
application  to  F.  P.  Femie,  Kimbolton. 

Cornbrasii  Fossils  for  others  from  chalk,  greensand,  &c. 
—  H.  English,  Woodstone,  Peterboro'. 

Trichobasis  fallens  and  other  Micro-fungi  for  stamped 
envelope  and  object  of  microscopical  interest.— J.  Sargent, 
jun.,  Fritchley,  near  Derby. 

Wanted,  Greenhouse  Ferns  in  exchange  for  other  varieties 
of  greenhouse  ferns,  names  given  and  required.— Address, 
M.  M.,  Post-office,  Faversham. 

Storm-tossed  Scrats  from  the  south-western  beach- 
unnamed  and  unassorted.— Send  large  directed  envelope  to 
I.  C.  W.,  Montpellier  House,  Budleigh  Salterton,  South 
Devon. 

Pup.'E  of  S.  ligustri  offered  for  Pupas  of  Sphingina  or  Bom- 
bycina.— Send  lists  to  W.  Duncombe,  Wincanton. 

British  Birds'  Eggs.— Eggs  of  green  woodpecker,  goat- 
sucker, sparrow-hawk,  Sec,  for  black  grouse,  ptarmigan, 
;    hobby,  Ac. — H.  Miller,  jun.,  Ipswich. 

Parasite  of  Beetle,  Gamasas  coleoptratorum  (mounted), 
for  other  well-mounted  slides  :  diatoms  preferred.  Enclose 
stamped  address  to  C.  H.,  3",  Devonshire  Mews  West,  Port- 
land Place,  W. 

Two  good  entomological  slides  offered  for  Namcula  sig- 
moidea,  or  N.  Spencerii,  or  N.  lineata. — C.  D.,  18/,  Oxford 
Street,  Mile  End,  E. 

Coleoptkra. — Wranted  Leistus  ferrugineus  ;  others  in  ex- 
change.—Joseph  A.  Kershaw,  Spring  Gardens,  Brighouse, 
Yorkshire. 


BOOKS   RECEIVED. 

"  The  Popular  Science  Review,"  for  October,  18/1. 

"The  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,"  for  October,  1871. 

"  Land  and  Water."    Nos.  358,  359,  360,  36l . 

"  The  Journal  of  Applied  Science,"  for  October,  1871. 

"  Rudimentary  Treatise  on  Geology."  Part  I. — Physical 
Geology,  by  Ralph  Tate.  Weale's  Rudimentary  Series. 
London  :  Lockwood  &  Co. 

"On 'Wants'  in  Ironstone  Seams,  and  their  connection 
with  Faults."     By  Robert  L.  Jack,  F.G.S. 

"  Das  Innere  von  GrOnland,"  von  Dr.  Robert  Brown. 

"  The  Animal  World,"  for  October,  1871. 

"The  Australian  Medical  Journal,"  for  August,  1871. 

"The  Canadian  Entomologist."     Nos.  5  and  6,  1871. 

"  Boston  Journal  of  Chemistry,"  for  October,  1871. 

"The  Micrographic  Dictionary."  Third  edition.  Edited 
by  J.  W.  Griffith,  M.D.,  Rev.  M.  J.  Berkeley,  M.A.,  and  T. 
Rupert  Jones,  F.G.S.  Parts  I.  and  II.  London:  Van 
Voorst. 

"Bird  Life."  By  Dr.  A.  E.  Brehm.  Translated  from  the 
German  by  H.  M.  Labouchere,  F.Z.S.,  and  W.  Jesse, 
C.M.Z.S.    Parts  I.  and  II.     London  :  Van  Voorst. 

"  The  Canadian  Naturalist."    Vol.  VI.— No.  1 . 


Communications  Received.—  M.  H. — E.  B. — J.  A. — 
J.  W.  W.— H.  O.  S.— M.  W.  E.— S.  S—  L.  S.— E.  F.  E.— 
J.  P.  H.  B.— E.  C.  L.— J.  B.— J.  S.  R.— B.  W.  F.-A.  B.— 
W.  H.  W.— H.  L—  H.  W.  M.— St.  E— F.  T.  M.-J.  L.— 
T.  W.— H.  E.  W.— H.  F.  P.— R.  E.— J.  R.  S.  C— T.  C.  O.— 
W.  C— W.  F.— H.  T.  C— J.  E.  D.— H.  C.  S.— J.  P.  F.— A.  H. 
—  J.  A.  Jun— A.  C.  K.— W.  H.  W.— H.  G.— J.  S.  W.  D.— 
E.  L.  L.— T.  W.  W.— O.  M.— G.  H.  H.— W.  B.— E.  P.  P.— 
W.  M.  H.— R.  L.— W.  B.  M— E.  C.  L— T.  W.  H.— C.  H.  M. 
— S.  A.  B.— H.  O.  S.— T.  H.— R.  G.— W.  A.  C— C.  R—  W.  N. 
— F.  S.— C.  E.— J.  S.  R.— F.  B.— B.  W.  P.— H.  M.— M.  M.— 
H.  N.— W.  D.— J.  C.  W.— J.  S.,  Jun.— H.  E.— H.  B— B.  B., 
Jun.— J.  A,1v.— W.  H.  L.-W.  E.  A.— J.  D.  L— G.  G.— A.  N. 
— W.  W.  S.— T.  W.-E.  L.— W.  E.  L.— W.  M.  A.  W. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


20£ 


WILD    BEASTS    AND    SNAKES. 


By  MAJOR  HOLLAND. 


AS  it  ever  struck  you 
what  a  very  import- 
ant part  these  ter- 
rible creatures  play 
in  this  world,  con- 
sidering them  only 
in  their  relation  to 
mankind  ?  We  meet 
with  thousands  of 
worthy  steady-going 
who  are  fully  per- 
in  their  own  minds, 
that  not  only  all  things  terres- 
trial, but  even  the  sun  itself 
and  all  the  host  of  heaven, 
were  evoked  and  established 
solely  and  exclusively  for  the 
use,  delectation,  and  gratifica- 
tion of  a  certain  featherless 
biped  of  the  class  Mammalia. 
The  serene  conceit  of  this 
calm  assurance  amuses  us, 
although  the  unfathomable 
selfishness  that  underlies  the 
notion  is  apt  to  provoke  us. 
They  have  read  that  at  the 
time  of  the  covenant  with  Noah,  the  beasts  were 
placed  under  the  dominion  of  man,  and  they  main- 
tain that  it  is  wicked  to  suppose  that  mere  brutes, 
which  were  "  sent "  for  man's  use,  can  be  of  any 
use  whatever  to  the  great  Giver  of  life,  and  that 
without  them  there  would  be  a  gap,  a  want,  a 
disturbance  in  the  balance  of  the  graud  Koajxoe,  in 
which  Homo  is  but  one  of  many  constituents. 

"To  an  uncivilized  man  no  proposition  appears 
more  self-evident  than  that  our  world  is  the  great 
central  object  of  the  Universe.  Around  it  the  sun 
and  moon  appear  alike  to  revolve,  and  the  stars 
seem  but  inconsiderable  lights  destined  to  garnish 
the  firmament.  Erom  this  conception  there  naturally 
follow  a  crowd  of  superstitions,  which  occupy  a  con- 
spicuous place  in  the  belief  of  every  early  civilization. 
No.  84. 


Man  being  the  centre  of  all  things,  every  startling 
phenomenon  has  some  bearing  upon  his  acts.  The 
eclipse,  the  comet,  the  meteor,  or  the  tempest,  are 
all  intended  for  him.  The  whole  history  of  the 
Universe  centres  upon  him,  and  all  the  dislocations 
and  perturbations  it  exhibits  are  connected  with 
his  history." 

The  science  of  Astronomy  has  cut  away  the  false 
foundation  of  this  human  egotism,  and  while  un- 
folding before  us  a  truer  conception  of  the  im- 
mensity of  the  Universe,  and  proving  that  our 
world  is  but  an  infinitesimal  fraction  in  creation,  as 
undistinguished  by  its  position  as  by  its  magnitude, 
it  has  forced  upon  man  a  truer  estimate  of  his  own 
insignificance ;  he  no  longer  believes  that  the 
planets,  like  celestial  midwives,  preside  over  his 
birth,  that  the  Pleiades  are  interested  in  his  love 
affairs,  that  Orion,  the  armed  and  belted  warrior,  is 
mixed  up  with  the  perils  of  his  manhood,  and  that 
his  own  petty  individual  career  is  "  linked  with  the 
march  of  worlds,  the  focus  towards  which  the  ini- 
fluences  of  the  most  sublime  of  created  things  con- 
tinually converge."  Having  been  taught  tins  some- 
what depressing  lesson  of  his  own  littleness,  he  may 
next  begin  to  suspect  that  the  other  animals  which 
dwell  upon  the  obscure  planet  Terra  may,  perhaps, 
be  of  a  little  more  importance  in  the  eyes  of  their 
Maker  than  he  at  first  imagined,  and  that  He  may 
have  given  them  offices  to  perform  on  His  own 
account,  altogether  apart  from  the  interests  and 
advantages  of  man,  who  is  not  the  only  one  of  His 
creatures  for  whom  He  cares. 

We  well  remember  an  old  Scotch  "Elder,"  an 
austere  dogmatic  old  gentleman,  with  much  faith 
in  the  efficacy  of  mortifying  the  flesh,  or  who  was 
at  any  rate  zealous  and  earnest  in  recommending 
self-inflicted  discomfort  as  an  infallible  spiritual 
nostrum  for  others,  who  while  arguing  from  Genesis 
c.  ix..  vv.  2  and  3,  that  the  antediluvians  were  all 
vegetarians,  and  that  animal  food  was  first  used 
after  the  descent  from  the  ark,  became  alarmingly 
"exercised"  all  of  a  sudden  over  the  fourth  verse. 

N 


266 


IIARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


"  Eh  dear  friends,  it's  clear  that  to  eat  the  blood  is 
unlawfu' ! !  it  ue'er  struck  me,  this  precious  passage 
afore ;  eh  gude  guide  us ! !  but  there's  nae  doot 
aboot  it ;  eh  dear  friends,  an'  me  wi  sic  a  relish  for 
black  puddins.  An'  uoo  1  maun  e'en  forego  the 
carnal  indulgence  evermair;  for  it'sjust.for  a'  the 
world  as  unlawfu'  to  eat  black  puddins  as  to  com- 
mit fornication." 

To  our  own  mind  the  destruction  of  human  beings 
to  satisfy  the  hunger  of  the  lower  animals  presents 
a  subject  for  deep  and  perhaps  painful  thought. 
Pew  of  the  people  who  live  so  peacefully  in  the 
blessed  security  of  our  sea-girt  home  have  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  the  myriads  of  their  fellow- 
men  who  are  thus  slaughtered  every  year :  they  read 
now  and  then  of  some  poor  wretch  being  carried  off 
by  a  tiger,  taken  by  a  shark,  trampled  to  death  by 
a  rogue-elephant,  or  struck  by  a  cobra,  and  they 
think  it  is  very  sad,  and  a  sort  of  accident  that 
happens  about  once  in  six  months  in  some  places 
abroad,  and  they  feel  very  glad,  or  perhaps  even 
thankful,  that  there  are  no  such  nasty  dangerous 
things  in  England :  Uet  them  consider  the  lesson 
conveyed  by  the  figures  of  the  following  brief 
but  pithy  extract  from  the  Times  of  21th  October, 
1S71  :— 

"  The  Viceroy  has  decided  to  continue  and  ex- 
tend the  rewards  for  the  destruction  of  wild  beasts 
and  snakes.  The  following  dreadful  records  of 
deaths  from  both  causes  during  the  three  years  end- 
ing 1869  were  published  in  the  Government  Gazette 
last  week : — Killed  by  wild  beasts— Madras,  888 ; 
Bombay  (exclusive  of  Scinde,  &c),  US  ;  Bengal, 
6,711  j  North-Western  Provinces,  2,168  ;  Punjab, 
310;  Oude,  569  ;  Central  Provinces,  1,317  ;  Coorg, 
147;  Hyderabad,  129  ;  British  Burmah,  107  :  total, 
12,551.  Killed  by  snakes — Madras,  7G0;  Bombay 
(exclusive  of  Scinde,  &c),  5SS ;  Bengal,  14,787 ; 
North-Western  Provinces,  2,474;  Punjab,  1,064; 
Oude,  3,782 ;  Central  Provinces,  1,961 ;  Coorg,  not 
given ;  Hyderabad,  226 ;  British  Burmah,  22 :  total, 
25,664." 

The  beasts  of  the  field  "  sent  for  our  use  "  for- 
sooth !  why  these  fearful  records  might  almost  lead 
us  to  think  that  we  have  been  sent  for  theirs. 
38,218  human  beings  have  been  killed  outright, 
12,554  by  beasts,  and  more  than  twice  as  many 
more  (25,564)  by  snakes,  within  the  short  space  of 
three  years  ;  and  these  are  but  the  deaths  "  officially 
reported  "  ; — how  many  thousands  of  other  deaths 
have  taken  place  from  the  same  causes,  in  the  dis- 
tricts from  which  no  returns  have  been  rendered, 
and  how  many  more  in  lonely  isolated  .villages, 
in  dreary  swamps  and  wild  jungles,  from  whence 
official  reports  cannot  be  obtained.  Thirty-eight 
thousand  victims  make  up  a  tolerable  three-seasons' 
"bag  "for  a  moiety  of  one  single  continent;  not 
for  all  India  let  it  be  remembered,  but  only  for  the 
British  provinces  thereof.    Great  as  our  Eastern 


empire  seems  to  be  when  compared  with  the 
scanty  area  and  numerically  insignificant  population 
of  these  little  British  isles,  yet  our  Indian  terri- 
tories are  but  a  part  of  India,  and  India  itself 
covers  but  a  fraction  of  that  area  of  the  earth's 
surface  which  swarms  with  "  the  great  carnivora  " 
and  deadly  serpents. 

Let  some  ingenuous  youth  fresh  from  his  text- 
books tell  us  how  many  times  British  India  will 
"  go  "into  the  1,309,200  square  miles  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  trigonometrical  survey,  are  contained 
in  India  proper;  then  let  him  try  how  many  times 
even  India  proper  will  go  into  all  the  rest  of  the 
world  from  which  man-killing  beasts  and  snakes 
have  not  yet  been  eliminated,  and  however  much 
we  may  have  been  startled  by  the  disclosures  made 
by  the  simple  arithmetic  of  the  Government  Gazette, 
yet  we  shall  see  that  we  must  multiply  its  tremen- 
dous triennial  total  by  at  least  7,  if  we  wish  to 
arrive  at  anything  like  an  approximate  estimate  of 
the  annual  quota  of  men,  women,  and  children  taken 
all  unprepared,  and  killed  and  eaten,  torn  and  man- 
gled, mauled,  crushed,  and  poisoned  for  this  hyper- 
devilish  Todtschlagschmaus*  If  Moloch  reigned,  the 
inexorable  requisitions  for  bloody  human  sacrifices 
could  scarce  be  heavier. 

Talk  about  the  horrors  of  war  !  and  the  widows 
and  orphans  of  our  soldiers  slain  through  the  am- 
bition of  Napoleon !  why  the  sum  total  of  the 
butcher's-bill  for  British  warriors  actually  killed 
in  action  in  all  the  chief  battles  of  the  Peninsular 
war,  including  Vimeira,  Talavera,  Busaco,  Barrosa, 
Badajoz,  Salamanca,  Vittoria,  the  Pyrenees,  St. 
Jean  de  Luz,  Nive,  Orthes,  Tarbes,  and  Toulouse, 
with  Quatrebras  and  Waterloo  thrown  into  the 
bargain,  only  amounted  to  6,000.  Talavera  is  men- 
tioned as  a  bloody  battle ;  it  only  counts  for  800,  i.e. 
for  SS  fewer  than  the  beasts  of  Madras  have  settled 
with  tooth  and  nail.  Waterloo  stands  good  for  93 
officers  and  1,916  men,  in  all  2,009  ;  a  roundish  num- 
ber, and  one  which,  according  to  Byron,  so  shocked 
the  clerical  staff  of  the  Recording  Angel,  that  when 
they  came  to  it, 

"  They  threw  their  pens  down  in  divine  disgust, 
The  page  was  so  besmeared  with  blood  and  dust," — 

a  proceeding  which  does  not  appear  however  to  have 
proved  "a  caution  to  snakes"  ;  for  it  is  shown  by 
the  return  before  us  that  in  the  three  years  to  which 
it  refers,  they  did  more  cxecutiou  amongst  British 
subjects  than  twelve  Waterloos. 

Solferino  and  Magenta,  Konigratz  and  Sadowa, 
Gravelotte  aud  Sedan,  sink  iuto  insignificance  ;  wc 
must  turn  to  Wiufield  and  Canna,  or  the  battles  of 
Israel,  if  we  want  to  find  the  actual  "  killed  "  on  one 
side  at  all  respectable,  when  compared  with  the 
"  casualties  "  caused  by  the  campaigns  of  the  wild 
beasts  and  snakes  in    the  vice-regal  domains   of 

*  Manslayer,s-feast. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


•207 


Lord  Mayo.  Our  friends  whose  dealings  with 
creatures  /era  naturae  have  been  chiefly  conducted 
within  the  palings  of  the  Zoological  Gardens, 
Regent's  Park,  can  hardly  realize  the  joy  with 
which  the  dwellers  in  less-favoured  lands  will  wel- 
come the  day  when  "the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like 
the  ox,  and  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the  hole 
of  the  asp,"  and  how,  pending  its  somewhat  tardy 
arrival,  they  will  bless  the  noble  Viceroy  for  trying 
to  keep  them  in  check  a  little. 

Dear  readers,  should  you  ever  chance  to  wander 
far  away  from  the  safe  and  comfortable  realms  of 
Cockaigne,  into  some  of  the  wild  waste  places  of 
the  earth,  you  may  chance  to  see  strange  and  pain- 
ful sights,  that  will  make  you  put  on  your  consider- 
ing cap,  however  little  you  may  be  given  to  thinking. 
Your  true  and  trusty  friend  and  comrade  sickens  on 
the  voyage  within  the  tropics,  and  with  his  enfeebled 
hand  clasped  in  yours,  he  passes  quietly  into  eternity 
while  trying  to  breathe  into  your  attentive  ear  some 
sacred  message  to  the  loved  ones  far  away :  at  sun- 
set the  ship's  bell  tolls,  and  a  sorrowful  company 
gathers  round  the  sewed-up  hammock  stretched 
upon  a  grating  in  the  gangway  and  covered  with 
the  Union-jack;  glance  your  eyes  over  the  still  deep 
blue  surface  of  the  summer  sea,  and  behold  the  rip- 
ples cut  in  it  by  the  tall  back  fins  of  several  very- 
fine  specimens  of  a  certain  genus  of  Plagiostomous 
fishes,  who  know  the  meaning  of  that  booming  bell 
as  well  as  you  do,'and,  obedient  to  its  summons,  have 
quitted  their  wonted  station  some  ten  feet  below 
the  surface  and  fifty  yards  astern  of  the  vessel, 
where  they  have  watched  and  chased  day  and  night 
for  nearly  a  week,  and  now  come  sailing  gaily  to 
and  fro  ajleur  d'eau,  well  abreast  of  the  gangway, 
in  the  sure  and  certain  hope  of  a  joyful  supper. 

Go  to  the  swampy  jungles,  the  river-villages,  and 
wood-embowered  lagoons  of  Borneo,  and  watch  the 
loathsome  pot-bellied  alligators  lying  in  ambush, 
with  their  wicked  cat-like  eyes  on  the  look-out  for 
venturesome  Malays  and  incautious  Dyaks,  whom 
they  will  snap  up  without  respect  of  persons,  just 
as  young  hounds  chop  leverets. 

We  once  beheld  a  learned  and  .Reverend  gentle- 
man— an  M.A.,  Cantab,  great  in  the  schools,  and 
powerful  in  the  pulpit,  dashing  madly  over  the  lea, 
with  eyeballs  starting  from  their  sockets  and  dis- 
hevelled locks  streaming  wildly  in  the  wind,  running 
for  the  dear  life  from  a  veritable  "  old  serpent," — 
no  mythical  sermon-book  bogie, — but  a  real  right 
down  rock-snake  about  nineteen  feet  long,  raven- 
ously hungry,  and  determined  to  breakfast  upon 
the  terrified  parson,  whom  he  would  most  certainly 
have  s.wallowed,  holy  orders  and  all,  without  the 
slightest  compunction,  had  not  an  "  arm  of  the 
flesh  "  intervened  in  the  very  nick  of  time. 

Should  it  ever  be  your  misfortune  to  see  a  man 
(not  "  a  mere  nigger,  only  one  remove  from  an 
ourang-outaug,"  but)  an  educated  chivalrous  high- 


minded  Christian  geutleman,  your  friend  and  equal, 
pulled  down  by  a  fierce  brute  so  mad  with  famine 
that,  regardless  of  your  approach  and  the  shouts  of 
the  hunters,  it  proceeds  to  devour  him  before  your 
very  eyes,  bolting  great  masses  of  the  quivering 
flesh  and  turning  it  into  tiger  before  "  the  reason- 
able soul  "  is  fairly  out  of  it,  a  dreadful  sense  of 
humiliation  (perhaps  not  altogether  unspiced  with 
indignation)  will  steal  over  you ;  and  though  you 
may  have  the  luck  to  slay  the  slayer,  and  rescue 
some  mangled  remains  of  him  who  five  minutes 
before  enjoyed  the  pride  and  strength  of  intelligent 
manhood,  still  a  bewildering  horror  will  chill  the 
triumph  of  your  vengeance,  and  while  shuddering 
over  the  bloody  wreck  of  the  Divine  likeness  slaugh- 
tered to  stay  the  craving  stomach  of  a  famished 
beast,  you  may  perhaps  remember  and  repeat — as 
one  whom  we  know  once  remembered  aud  repeated 
— the  words  "In  the  image  of  God  created  He 
him,"  and  you  will  be  furnished  with  something  to 
wonder  over  and  think  about  for  the  rest  of  your 
days, — ay,  even  though  you  may  never  have  won- 
dered or  thought  about  anything  before,  in  all  your 
life. 
Bury  Cross,  Gosport. 

THE  OTHER  SIDE  OF  THE  VIVARIUM. 

~VTO  one  would  rejoice  more  heartily  than  the 
-^  writer,  at  any  contrivances  which  could  be 
resorted  to  which  promised  to  facilitate  the  study 
of  entomology,  and  render  it  more  popular  than  it 
is  at  present.  But  I  cannot  look  with  any  hopeful- 
ness upon  the  suggestions  as  to  the  establishment 
of  Insect  Vivaria  upon  au  extended  scale.  I  am 
convinced,  not  merely  by  consideration  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  habits  of  insects  of  the  different 
orders,  but  by  the  results  of  actual  experiment, 
made,  it  is  to  be  acknowledged,  on  a  small  scale, 
yet  with  careful  watching  as  to  the  results,  that 
though  the  proceedings  of  many  species  can  be 
watched  with  advantage  while  they  are  kept  in 
cages  of  a  kind  adapted  to  their  nature,  the  mixing 
up  of  a  number  of  different  kinds  in  any  common 
receptacle  will  prove  more  or  less  a  failure. 

Some  will  at  once  exclaim  with  surprise,  "  Why 
should  any  difficulties  attend  the  establishment  of 
insect  vivaria,  when  the  aqua-vivarium,  marine  and 
fresh,  has  proved  so  highly  successful?"  And  others 
will  add,  appealing  to  seeming  experience,  "  Have 
these  not  been  tried,  and  found  to  auswer  very  well 
on  a  small  scale,  and  would  they  not  do  so  also  on 
a  more  extended  one  ? "  Now,  on  the  first  point 
it  must  be  noted,  that  however  diverse  may  bet  he 
contents  of  your  artificial  pond  or  receptacle,  though 
it  includes  amongst  its  inhabitants  not  only  insects, 
out  animals  belonging  to  other  classes,  they  all  live 
in  the  same  fluid,  and  to  a  very  great  extent  what 
is  conducive  to  the  health  of  one  species,  in  the 

XT       9 


26S 


HARDWICKE'S    S  CI  E  N  C  E- GOSSIP. 


matter  of  temperature,  aeration  of  water,  the  pre- 
sence of  vegetable  growths,  and  so  forth,  is  suited 
to  the  health  of  the  remainder.  But  insects,  non- 
aquatic,  require  a  very  great  variety  of  conditions 
to  insure  their  well-being  and  growth  to  maturity. 
It  is  not  impossible  to  carry  out  these  conditions 
with  the  exercise  of  caution  'and  patience,  but 
separation  is  almost  unavoidable,  unless  you  are 
taking  species  in  those  stages  when  they  are  quies- 
cent, or  nearly  so,  as  in  the  egg  and  pupa  states, 
which  are  not  likely  to  be  particularly  attractive  in 
the  vivarium — at  least  in  most  species.  The  larvae 
of  insects  require  treatment  of  the  most  diverse 
kind;  and  this  is 'true  even  of  some  species  which 
have  very  close  affinities. 

So,  too,  is  it  more  or  less  the  case  with  insects  in 
the  imago  state  :  if  we  wish  to  see  them  to  advan- 
tage as  prisoners,  we  must  give  them  an  abode 
which  will  afford  them  all  facilities  for  pursuing  the 
course  of  their  existence  as  they  would  if  at  large. 
With  many  insects  it  is  impossible  to  manage  this,, 
unless  we  give  to  a  species  a  separate  abode ;  and 
with  probably  the  majority,  in  most  cases,  no  con- 
trivances can  make  them  fully  at  ease  when  they 
are  removed  from  their  natural  habitats.  Eor  it 
happens  very  unfortunately  that  the  species  which 
we  think  most  fitted  to  adorn  an  insect  vivarium 
will  not  take  at  all  kindly  to  it ;  a  notable  example 
being  furnished  by  the  Diurnal  Lepidoptera ;  and 
only  a  few  of  the  night-flyers  in  that  order  can  be 
introduced  in  the  imago  state  into  the  vivarium. 

In  the  frontispiece  to  a  work  upon  the  subject,  the 
artist  depicts  a  scene,  over  which  I  have  enjoyed 
many  a  laugh  with  friends.  The  elegant  structure 
contains  both  land  and  water,  the  latter,  however, 
appearing  to  preponderate  almost  as  much  as  it 
does  upon  the  surface  of  the  globe — an  arrangement 
certainly  not  desirable  in  actual  practice ;  but  the 
artist  may  be  conceded  some  liberties. 

Passing  over  the  dwellers  beneath  the  mimic 
flood,  when  we  proceed  to  examine  into  the  habi- 
tants above,  we  find  a  very  amusing  commingling  of 
species.  There  are  several  larvae,  one  or  two  of 
which  are  recognizable  as  the  spiny  larvae  of  one 
of  the  Vanessas ;  there  is  also  a  hairy  individual 
supposed  to  be  a  Tiger,  and  a  caterpillar  of  some 
Hawk-moth,  presumably  that  of  the  Privet  Hawk 
{Sphinx  ligustri). 

Careering  about  in  the  vacant  space  above, 
we  have  the  moth  of  the  last-named  species,  and  if 
we  are  startled  to  find  it  in  all  its  winged  glory, 
while  the  caterpillar  producing  the  same  species  is 
also  feeding  within,  we  must  set  the  circumstance 
down  to  the  remarkable  influence  of  the  vivarium, 
which  may  be  supposed  to  have  prolonged  the  life 
of  the  moth  beyond  its  wonted  limit.  Various 
butterflies  arc  recreating  themselves,  the  Large 
White,  the  Clouded  Yellow,  and  the  Purple  Em- 
peror being  prominent,  the  last  of  these  being  re- 


presented in  such  a  position,  just  above  the  water, 
that  one  would  suppose,  like  Venus,  he  had  just 
emerged  from  it. 

Now  with  regard  to  the  demeanour  of  the  Privet 
Hawk-moth  in  such  circumstances  I  can  speak 
positively,  having  kept  a  number  in  a  good-sized 
vivarium,  made  by  way  of  experiment  at  a  time 
when  I  was  desirous  of  obtaining  eggs  of  the  species. 
Throughout  the  day  they  are  placid  enough,  but 
towards  evening  there  was  a  mighty  commotion ; 
they  dashed  to  and  fro  on  their  strong  pinions, 
heedless  of  opposing  glass  and  zinc ;  the  result  being 
seen  in  the  morning  in  fractured  antenna?  and  wings 
soiled  and  frayed. 

Allowing  for  difference  of  habit,  a  nearly  corre- 
sponding result  ensues  with  the  butterflies.  A  few 
species  indeed  are  sluggish,  and  take  but  short 
flights,  such  as  the  Greasy  Eritillary ;  the  majority 
speed  rapidly  on  the  wing,  while  some  rise  upwards 
with  considerable  force.  All  these  will,  as  a  rule, 
remain  inactive  enough  while  the  vivarium  is  in  the 
shade ;  but  when  the  sun  is  allowed  to  shine  upon 
it,  then  begin  their  rapid  gyrations.  Like  our  well- 
known  house-fly,  they  sweep  towards  the  glass, 
mistaking  it  for  empty  space  through  which  they 
can  pass.  We  have  all  seen  flies  strike  themselves 
repeatedly  against  window-panes,  and  retire  seem- 
ingly none  the  worse ;  it  is  not  so  with  butterflies, 
whose  plumed  wings  are  by  no  means  improved  by 
such  muscular  feats. 

I  have  enclosed  flowers  with  these  insects  in  a 
vivarium,  but  they  have  hardly  ever  deigned  to  alight 
upon,  or  take  any  notice  of  them.  In  the  same 
engraving  to  which  reference  has  just  been  made, 
there  are  also  introduced  some  specimens  of  the 
Neuropterous  order,  including  dragon-flies  of  the 
larger  species.  It  is  a  matter  of  familiar  observa- 
tion to  every  one,  that  these  insects  take  long 
flights,  hawking  to  and  fro  after  their  prey.  They 
therefore  brook  confinement  exceedingly  ill,  and,  in 
fact,  if  the  owner  of  the  Insect  Vivarium  has  well 
supplied  his  menagerie  with  curious  examples,  he 
will  have  reason  to  rejoice  if  his  dragon-flies  are 
inactive,  for  when  hunting  they  can  destroy  a  good 
number  of  insects  in  a  very  short  space  of  time.  A 
vivarium  would  need  to  be  large  indeed  to  allow 
sufficient  scope  for  the  evolutions  of  the  majority  of 
winged  insects. 

Then  again,  as  to  the  uses  of  vivaria  in  the  matter 
of  larva  -  rearing,  the  keeping  of  a  number  of 
different  species  in  a  general  cage  almost  precludes 
that  proper  attention  to  the  wants  and  habits  of 
each,  which  is  so  necessary  for  their  successful 
culture.  And  a  most  serious  disadvantage  is  this, 
that  insects  of  all  the  orders  display  an  inclination, 
constantly  or  occasionally,  to  make  other  insects 
their  prey ;  nor  will  the  best  supply  of  food,  and 
frequent  watching,  obviate  this.  Especially  will 
this  happen  if  we  have  introduced  a  pond  in  our 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


2G9 


vivarium,  and  stocked  it  with  insect  inhabitants  of 
the  usual  kinds.  These  will  be  likely  enough  to 
make  predatory  excursions  amongst  the  dwellers 
upon  the  land,  and  the  latter  have,  unfortunately, 
no  opportunity  for  returning  these  attacks ;  for 
though  some  of  them  are  pretty  sure  to  make 
acquaintance  with  the  "liquid  element,"  they  have 
quite  enough  to  do  to  extricate  themselves  there- 
from. And  this  is  one  of  the  drawbacks  attendant 
upon  the  addition  of  water,  that  the  non-aquatic 
insects  will  persist  in  tumbling  into  it,  and  the 
friendly  observer,  who  acts  the  part  of  the  Iloyal 
Humane  Society,  cannot  be  always  at  hand. 

He  who  has  done  anything  in  the  way  of  rearing 
insects  through  their  various  transformations,  can- 
not but  admit  that  a  very  great  preponderance  of 
larvae  prefer  to  conceal  their  proceedings.  Many 
of  the  burrowiug  and  mining  larvae  are,  from  the 
very  nature  of  their  food  and  their  peculiar  habits, 
of  necessity  hidden  from  view ;  nor  could  they  well 
be  made  objects  of  exhibition  in  any  vivarium  which 
could  be  contrived.  And  with  regard  to  the  cater- 
pillars or  larvse  of  Lepidoptera  (butterflies  and 
moths),  to  whicli  some  persons  would  point  as  good 
examples  of  the  fitting  tenants  of  the  Insect  Viva- 
rium,— these,  though  feeding  often  in  positions 
where  they  can  be  observed,  are  easily  frightened 
from  their  food.  Sounds,  agitation,  or  even  the 
mere  approach  of  an  on-looker,  will  cause  at  least 
three-fourths  of  our  caterpillars  either  to  assume 
some  posture  of  defence,  or  at  least  to  SAving  from 
their  food-plants  by  silken  cords.  So  much  is  it  the 
fact  that  caterpillars  are  uot  likely  to  get  on  well 
if  they  are  liable  to  disturbance,  that  some  years 
ago,  when  I  had  a  number  in  rearing,  belonging  to 
different  species,  in  a  small  ant-house,  I  found  it 
necessary  to  make  an  absolute  rule  that  visitors, 
especially  juveniles,  should  have  very  infrequent 
admission.  This  would  apply  just  as  much  to  any 
vivarium  which,  while  so  contrived  as  to  embrace 
within  it  a  variety  of  larvae  as  well  as  of  imagos,  is 
intended  for  public  exhibition.  However  much  we 
may  regret  it,  it  is  nevertheless  true,  that  many  of 
the  most  interesting  amongst  the  insects  cannot  be 
watched  without  much  caution  and  patience,  so 
anxious  are  they  to  conceal  their  proceedings  from 
public  view.  A  notable  instance  suggests  itself  in 
the  economy  of  the  bee,  and  though  formicaries 
may  be  contrived,  in  whicli  the  proceedings  of  ants 
can  be  observed  to  an  extent,  much  that  goes  on  is 
hidden  from  public  gaze.  But  only  fancy  an  Insect 
Vivarium  of  large  proportions,  erected  for  the  in- 
spection of  that  very  careless  animal  the  British 
public !  TVe  will  suppose  that  its  managers  stock 
it  with  a  proportion  of  rare  and  choice  species ; 
and,  for  their  benefit,  it  would  be  needful  to  have  a 
scries  of  notices  in  the  vicinity,  somewhat  in  the 
following  style:— "Coughing  or  loud  talking  is 
strictly  prohibited  near  the  Vivarium."     "Visitors 


j  are  requested  to  tread  lightly  when  they  are  ap- 
j  proaching  the  Vivarium."  "Though  persons  are 
not  forbidden  to  point  at  objects  in  the  Vivarium,  it 
I  is  requested  that  no  one  will  touch  or  tap  against  the 
!  glass  or  metal  work."  "  Those  who  are  habitual 
'•  smokers,  or  who  have  any  strong  odour  about 
their  person,  are  cautioned  not  to  continue  very 
\  long  in  proximity  to  the  Vivarium." 
I  But,  returning  to  the  question,  "Do  not  some 
|  Insect  Vivaria  answer  very  well  ?  "  I  must  confess 
to  scepticism  on  the  point.  I  know  several  who 
J  made  trial  of  them,  and  after  a  few  months  of  vary- 
ing success,  have  had  to  give  up  the  attempt  to 
make  them  answer.  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties 
I  found,  was  with  regard  to  the  plants.  The  viva- 
rium cannot  be  kept  in  the  open  air,  exposed  to  the 
changes  of  the  weather ;  for  several  reasons  it  is 
needful  that  it  should  be  screened  from  these, 
though,  in  the  ordinary  way,  it  may  be  desirable 
to  expose  the  vivarium,  if  not  in  sunshine,  at  least 
to  full  daylight.  A  supply  of  grass  is  exceedingly 
desirable,  as  observed  by  a  correspondent  of 
Science-Gossip,  and  this  will  not  grow  to  advan- 
tage under  cover.  Nor  is  the  case  exceptional,  for 
a  series  of  troublesome  experiments  with  different 
plants,  which  were  required  for  the  purpose  of  feed- 
ing larvae  enclosed  in.  the  vivarium,  proved  to  me 
that  our  native  plants,  on  the  whole,  will  thrive  for 
bat  a  brief  space  if  placed  within  a  structure,  which 
places  them  under  conditions  corresponding  to  a 
conservatory  life.  And  another  awkward  circum- 
stance is  this  :  that  if  you  actually  feed  larvae  upon 
the  plants  you  have  growing  in  the  earth  of  your 
vivarium,  these  soon  become  disfigured,  and  the 
appearance  they  present  is  unpleasing  to  the  eye. 
Hence  the  expedient  has  been  suggested,  of  intro- 
ducing here  and  there  bottles  filled  with  water,  into 
which  the  twigs  or  branches  of  shrubs  and  stalks 
of  low-growing  species  are  inserted,  and  renewed 
from  time  to  time.  The  proper  adjustment  of 
these  amongst  the  other  plants  is  an  awkward: 
business,  and  the  requisite  changing  of  them  quite 
as  much  so,  especially  if  the  vivarium  is  well 
stocked  with  flying  insects  as  well  as  larvae.  Many 
of  the  latter  must  of  course  be  removed  with  the 
food-plants  and  put  back  again.  Another  annoy- 
ance I  may  mention  here,  attendant  upon  larvae- 
receiving  in  the  promiscuous  style  and  it  is  this — 
some  species  require  special  food,  not  easy  to  obtain 
in  the  right  condition.  You  furnish  them  with  a 
supply  of  this  in  your  vivarium,  and  visiting  it  some- 
morning,  you  find,  to  your  great  disgust,  that  it  has 
been  devoured  by  some  "  common  fellows,"  whe 
might  have  satisfied  themselves  with  the  plants  on 
which  you  had  placed  them,  but  ^ehose  to  wander 
off,  and  attack  a  neighbour's  feed. 

Experientia  docet.  The  inference  I  have  drawn,, 
from  personal  experiment  and  the  reports  of  others, 
is  unfavourable  to  Insect  Vivaria,  on  either  a  small: 


270 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


or  a  large  scale.  I  don't  believe  the  habits  of  insects 
could  be  seen  in  these,  so  as  to  furnish  an  exhibition 
either  interesting  or  instructive  to  the  public  gene- 
rally ;  and  secondly,  in  breeding  and  rearing  them, 
I  judge  that,  from  the  great  differences  in  economy 
■which  we  find  amongst  insects,  it  is  better  to  iso- 
late each  species  in  some  cage  or  case  suited  to  its 
particular  wants. 

If  any  one  wishes  to  see  the  subject  of  Insect 
Vivaria  treated  rhapsodically,  he  had  better  obtain 
a  work  called  the  "  Butterfly  Vivaria ;  or  Insect 
Home."  The  whole  thing  seems  remarkably  easy, 
and  quite  poetical  (on  paper) ;  but  it  is  no  dis- 
respect to  the  author  of  this  book  to  say  that  he  is 
much  greater  as  an  artist  than  as  an  entomologist. 

J.  R.  S.  Clifford. 


VARIATIONS  IN  COLOUR  OF  WILD 
FLOWERS. 

ALLOW  me  to  add  a  few  remarks  to  those  which 
have  lately  appeared  on  this  subject.  Depar- 
tures from  the  ordinary  hue  are,  I  think,  most  fre- 
quent, relatively,  in  blue  flowers,  less  so  in  red,  and 
very  rare  in  yellow  ones ;  indeed,  the  common  prim- 
rose is  the  only  yellow  flower  of  which  I  remember  to 
have  found  differently-coloured  varieties — viz.,  red 
and  white.  The  Kidney  Vetch  (Anthyllis  vulneraria) 
rarely  occurs  with  scarlet  flowers,  and  the  yellow- 
flowered  Trifolium  Molinerii  is  said  to  be  the  parent 
stock  of  the  crimson  T.  incarnatum,  a  field  of  which 
forms  such  a  glorious  contrast  to  the  prevailing 
green  of  a  summer  landscape.  Of  flowers  normally 
blue,  the  changes  are  to  white  and  pinkish  red ; 
yellow  never  being  seen.  White  varieties  are  more 
common  than  pink  ones,  both  as  regards  individuals 
and  species ;  many  blue  flowers,  as  the  species  of 
Veronica  (Speedwell),  occurring  sometimes  white, 
but  never  pink ;  whereas  I  cannot  remember  one 
that  ever  comes  pink  and  not  white.  Flowers  that 
occur  of  these  three  colours  are  normally  of  a  deep 
purple-blue — e.g.,  the  Sweet  Violet,  the  Blue-bell 
(ITyacinthus  nouscriptus),  the  Milkwort  (Polygala 
vulgaris),  the  Bugle  {Ajuga  reptans),  and  Prunella 
vulgaris:  the  red  varieties  of  these  are  merely  a 
dull,  washed-out  pink  or  purplish  red,  and  I  cannot 
help  thinking  it  probable  that,  in  the  formation  of 
these  varieties  no  new  colour  is  present,  but  ouly 
the  blue  colouring  matter  deficient,  the  red  which 
enters  into  the  composition  of  the  natural  purple 
alone  remaining,  while  in  the  white  variety  both 
blue  and  red  are  wanting.  Of  the  Violet  and  Blue- 
bell, I  often  find  a  fourth  shade,  a  delicate  pale 
lavender,  intermediate  between  the  purple  and 
white  forms :  minor  differences  are  very  common. 
Of  tlie  Boraginese,  a  large  proportion  bear  bright 
blue  flowers,  but  I  have  never  found  one  which 


varies  from  blue  when  fully  out,  though  almost  all 
of  them  are  red  on  first  opening,  and  become  blue 
as  they  expand.     The  Comfrey  {Symphytum  offici- 
nale), however,  usually  reddish  or  white,  is  occa- 
sionally of  a  dusky  purplish  hue,  hardly  to  be  digni- 
fied by  the  name  of  blue.     White  varieties  of  red 
flowers  are  not  rare  ;  e.g.,  Geranium  molle,  dissectum, 
and  Robertiamim  (all  of  which  I  have  found  white 
this  summer),  also  several  species  of  Orchis  and 
Bpilobium  angustifolium ;  but  the  Pimpernel  (Ana- 
gallis  arvensis)  is  the  only  red  flower,  that  I  am  aware 
of,  that  ever  comes  blue ;  and  iu  this  variety  there 
are  other  differences  sufficient  to  have  iuduced  some 
botanists  to  erect  Anagallis  ccerulea  into  a  species. 
I  have  lately  found  the  common  Poppy  (P.  Bhoeas) 
with  pale  lilac  petals.    White  flowers  rarely  occur 
wholly  of  a  different  colour,  though  often  shaded  on 
the  outside  like  the  rays  of  the  daisy  and  the  sepals 
of  the  wood  anemone,  and,  in  fading,  they  sometimes 
become  pink,  as  the  last-named  plant,  and  the  May 
(Crata>gus  oxyacantha).    I  do  not  think  that  shade 
has  the  effect  of  producing  white  varieties,  though 
it  renders  the  natural  colour  less  vivid  ;  nor  have  1 
noticed  any  effect  of  soil  in  causing  variations  of 
colour.    Almost  all  the  soils  here  are  calcareous, 
but  some  woods  near  here  on  the  green  sand  are 
completely  clothed  in  April  and  May  with  a  purple 
carpet  of  blue-bells,  and  among  them  white  flowers 
are  not  uncommon.     Sometimes  the  deficiency  of 
colour  in  the  petals  is  shared  by  the  rest  of  the 
plant, — a  true  case  of  albinism  ;  this  I  have  noticed 
in  Linaria  cymbalaria.    On  the  other  hand,  the 
foliage  of  the  white- flowered  plants  of  Geranium 
TLohertiunum  that  I  know  is  particularly  dark  red, 
they  growing  on  an  exposed  wall  top.   In  this  neigh- 
bourhood,   as  noticed  also  by  Mr.  Macmillan  at 
Castle  Gary,  16  miles  distant,  the  white  variety  of  the 
scented  violet  greatly  preponderates.    I  have  esti- 
mated the  proportions  of  the  different  colours  as  70 
percent.white,  20  per  ceut.blue,  aud  10  per  cent.  pink. 
It  is  strange  that  white  varieties  of  Viola  hirta  and 
sylcatica  do  not  occur.    In  the  preceding  remarks 
I  have,  of  course,  ouly  spoken  of  the  varieties  occur- 
ring in  the  wild  state ;   under  the  much  greater 
diversity  of  conditions  which  man  can  produce, 
greater  variations  occur. 
Beckington,  Somerset.       H.  F.  Paksons,  M.D. 


Robber  Ants. — It  is  believed  in  Brazil  that  the 
young  of  the  Cupim  or  Termite  are  carried  off  and 
enslaved,  like  West  Africans,  by  the  fierce  Planta- 
tion ant  (Atla  ccphalotes  or  Sauba),  winch  thus 
represents  the  wicked  and  merciless  white  man. 
But  the  same  tale  is  told  of  the  Quemquem  ant, 
and  possibly  the  superstition  may  have  arisen  from 
the  different  sizes  of  the  workers  major  and  the 
workers  minor.— Burton,  Highlands  of  the  Brazils. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


271 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  "CRAGS." 
By  J.  E.  Taylor,  E.G.S.,  &c. 

IT  may  be  that  some  of  the  friends  who  are  good 
enough  to  listen  to  what  we  have  to  say,  do 
not  understand  what  is  meant  by  the  term  "  Crag." 
Some  of  our  fellow  story-tellers  have  already  re- 
marked that  many  of  the  terms  used  in  geology 
have  been  borrowed  from  vulgar  use.  and  elevated 
into  scientific  expressions.  It  is  necessary  to  under- 
stand the  latter  before  much  progress  can  be  made. 
This,  however,  is  not  the  place  for  explaining  any 
other  than  our  own.  "Crag,"  then,  is  a  word 
common  in  the  Eastern  counties,  especially  in 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  and  is  applied  to  those  thick 
beds  of  marine  shells  whose  history  we  purpose 
relating.  Ask  any  person  living  near  the  localities 
where  these  strata  crop  out,  and  they  tell  you,  in  a 
dialect  you  will  find  it  difficult  to  understand,  to 
what  the  word  is  applied. 

Geologically,  the  "Crag"  beds  belong  to  that 
period  of  time  known  as  the  Pliocene.  They  are 
deeply  interesting,  on  account  of  their  connecting 
the  past  with  the  present.  They  also  give  you  a 
good  idea  of  the  physical  and  climatal  conditions  of 
this  country  just  before  the  extreme  and  lasting 
cold  of  the  Glacial  epoch  set  in,  and  testify  to 
general  circumstances  not  greatly  unlike  those 
which  now  prevail  in  these  latitudes.  We  "  Crags  " 
are  three  in  number,  of  which  the  oldest  is  that 
known  as  the  Coralline.  Then  comes  the  Red,  and 
lastly,  the  Norwich.  The  former  goes  also  by  the 
name  of  Older  Pliocene. 

We  must  take  you  back  to  a  period— that  of  our 
birth — when  the  climate  was  rather  warmer  and 
milder  than  it  now 'is.  A  good  portion  of  Suffolk 
was  then  lying  under  a  tolerably  deep  sea,  along 
whose  floor  beds  of  shells  were  forming.  The 
genial  temperature  of  the  water  was  favourable  to 
the  development  of  animal  life.  Hosts  of  beautiful 
echinites  {Temnechinus)  slowly  pulled  themselves 
over  the  smooth  bottom.  These  creatures  subse- 
quently became  extinct  in  English  areas,  and 
naturalists  believed  they  had  passed  out  of  exist- 
ence altogether.  We  hear,  however,  they  have 
been  met  with  quite  recently  whilst  dredging  in 
deepish  water  off  the  coasts  of  Florida,  on  the 
other  side  the  Atlantic.  You  may  guess,  therefore, 
the  time  which  has  passed  away  since  the  Coral- 
line Crag  was  formed,  by  the  agencies  which  have 
slowly  driven  a  once  English  inhabitant  to  take  up 
its  isolated  abode  in  American  waters.  The  mol- 
lusca  literally  swarmed  over  the  Suffolk  area,  and 
it  is  out  of  their  broken  and  disunited  shells  that 
we  "  Crag"  beds  have  been  formed.  Chief  among 
the  generic  forms  were  the  Astartes,  whose  specific 
abundance  was  only  excelled  by  their  individual 
powers  of  multiplication.    Next  came  the  Pectun- 


culus,  whose  members  literally  swarmed.  The  Cy- 
prina  was  not  absent,  and  its  beautiful  valves  arc 
among  the  chief  spoils  to  be  obtained  at  Orford, 
in  Suffolk.  One  genus,  Cardita,  is  also  largely 
represented,  and  you  may  frequently  disinter  it 
with  both  valves  still  united.  No  fewer  than  three 
hundred  and  fifty  species  of  mollusca  lived  in  the 
waters  of  the  Coralline  Crag  sea;  and  in  the  beau- 
tiful cream-coloured  deposits  you  may  pick  these 
out  with  as  much  ease  as  you  would  the  empty 
valves  on  some  sea-beach.  To  those  who  are  fond  of 
conchology,  and  who  love  still  more  to  read  off  the 
simple  but  profound  lessons  which  fossil  shells 
teach,  we  would  recommend  a  visit  to  those  parts 
of  Suffolk  where  we  lie  in  original  repose.  It  is 
like  walking  over  the  dried-up  bed  of  a  recently- 
existing  sea,  and  obtaining  those  secrets  which  the 
dredge  and  other  instruments  can  so  imperfectly 
explain  in  these  days.  Besides  the  great  number 
of  species  of  mollusca  found  here,  and  in  addition 
to  the  Echinodermata,  or  "  sea-urchins,"  there  are 
no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  species  of 
Bri/ozoa,  or  "sea-mats,"  which  have  been  disco- 
vered. Some  of  them,  such  as  Fascicularia,  are 
quite  unlike  anything  now  existing,  although  they 
lived  in  what  were  then  British  waters,  at  a  period 
geologically  so  recent.  Corals,  all  of  them  belong- 
ing to  the  solitary  kinds,  are  also  plentiful,  and 
their  beautiful  shapes  are  only  excelled  by  the 
ornate  sculpturing  of  the  "  sea-urchins."  Alto- 
gether, therefore,  you  may  form  some  idea  of  the 
rich  treat  for  the  naturalist  which  is  to  be  obtained 
simply  by  "  collecting  "  in  our  beds ;  whilst,  if  your 
philosophy  goes  deeper,  you  will  not  be  long  before 
you  come  to  some  such  conclusions  as  the  following, 
all  of  which  form  a  veritable  portion  of  our  life- 
history. 

The  sea  of  the  Coralline  Crag  was  subject  to 
occasional  extremes.  On  its  floor  were  met  species 
of  shell-fish  which  are  now  regarded  as  indicating 
wide  differences  of  climature.  The  Astartes  de- 
cidedly point  to  northern  conditions;  but  such 
forms  as  Pyrula,  Volida,  and  Cassidaria,  as  dis- 
tinctly point  to  warm  waters.  We  can  hardly  speak 
positively  on  this  point,  but  we  think  these  extremes 
may  have  been  produced  by  alternate  currents  of 
warm  and  cold  water,  which,  as  we  have  heard,  are 
found  to  exist  in  the  deeper  parts  of  temperate  seas 
at  the  present  time.  Whether  or  not,  it  is  certain 
that  such  circumstances  would  only  make  the  life- 
forms  more  various  and  the  species  more  abundant. 
The  total  number  of  shells  which  you  may  call 
"  southern,"  met  with  in  this  the  oldest  Crag,  is 
twenty-eight— not  a  large  number,  you  will  say,  out 
of  the  total.  But,  small  as  this  number  is,  it  will 
assist  us  in  explaining  to  you  the  gradual  change 
of  the  physical  conditions  which  occurred  during 
the  Pliocene  epoch.  Some  of  them  were  driven 
away  from  these  latitudes  by  the  encroaching  cold, 


272 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


and  step  by  step  migrated  southerly.  One  species, 
doubtless  the  liueal  descendant  of  those  which  lived 
over  what  is  now  called  Suffolk,  is  met  with  in  the 
TVrest  Indian  seas.  Most  of  the  "southerly"  shells' 
however,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Mediterranean. 

By  the  slow  accumulation  of  dead  shells,  corals, 
&c,  cemented  by  the  smaller  tests  of  foraminifera, 
the  Coralline  Crag  eventually  attained  a  thickness 
of  fifty  feet.  It  was  slowly  upheaved,  aud  subjected 
to  great  erosion  by  the  action  of  marine  currents 
which  scooped  out  great  hollows.  When  the  up! 
ward  movement  was  arrested  for  a  time,  in  these 
hollows  was  thrown  down  another  and  later  series 
of  deposits,  termed  the  "Red  Crag."  This  Crag, 
whose  prevailing  colour  gives  to  it  its  name,  has  a 
much  wider  extension  than  the  older  member  of 
our  series.  Just  before  it  was  formed,  the  same 
wear- and -tear  which  had  so  effectually  cut  clown 
the  Coralline  Crag  also  denuded  the  underlying 
London  Clay.  For  ages  before;;the  depression  took 
place  which  brought  the  Crag  seas  over  Suffolk, 
this  had  been  a  land  surface,  over  which  had  roamed 
hosts  of  wild  and  extinct  animals.  The  wear-and- 
tear  had  loosened  and  washed  out  the  fossils  of  the 
London  Clay,  so  that  underneath  the  Red  Crag,  and 
with  the  latter  resting  on  it,  you  find  a  bed  of 
stones  in  which  are  huge  teeth  of  sharks,  bones  of 
whales,  teeth  of  tapir,  elephant,  mastodon,  &c. 
The  stones  are  those  so-called  "  coprolites  "  which 
make  the  Red  Crag  so  valuable.  These  are  nothing 
more  or  less  than  phosphatic  nodules  in  a  re-depo- 
sited state. 

In  this  Red  Crag  sea  there  lived  over  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  species  of  shell-fish,  among  which, 
however,  you  will  only  find  about  thirteen  of  the 
"Southern"  forms.  The  "Northern"  types  are 
also  on  the  increase,  so  that  you  have  in  these  two 
facts  an  indication  of  an  increased  rigour  of  climate. 
The  sea  was  not  so  deep  as  during  the  formation  of 
the  older  crag,  so  that  you  get  a  great  many  more 
shallow-water  shells,  among  which  those  of  the 
Limpet  family  are  most  abundant.  The  small  single 
corals  were  very  numerous  in  places,  and  the  little 
cowrie-shells  literally  swarmed  everywhere.  That 
the  water  was  shallow  you  may  see  for  yourself 
whenever  you  visit  a  Red  Crag  pit,  for  you  cannot 
fail  to  be  struck  by  the  lines  of  false  current  bed- 
ding which  everywhere  meet  your  eye.  The  rough 
marine  action  testified  to  by  these  phenomena 
ground  up  the  more  delicate  shells  into  the  bran- 
like appearance  of  which  the  matrix  of  the  crag  is 
composed. 

Extending  in  a  north-easterly  direction,  towards 
the  conclusion  of  the  Red  Crag  era,  and  when  its 
beds  had  been  formed  to  a  depth  of  at  least  twenty 
feet,  was  a  shallow  -estuary,  which  ran  sinuously 
through  the  bare  chalk  into  what  is  now  Norfolk. 
It  occupied  the  very  site  of  the  city  of  Norwich, 
and  reached  its  head  about  four  miles  beyond, 


where  a  small  river  poured  its  waters  into  it,  so  as 
to  produce  brackish  water  conditions.  You  will 
see,  therefore,  that  this  later,  or  "  Norwich  Crag," 
as  it  is  usually  called,  was  merely  a  fluvio-marine 
extension  of  the  more  purely  marine  Red  Crag. 
Owing  to  its  being  formed  under  different  condi- 
tions, the  fossils  of  the  Norwich  Crag  differ  very 
much  from  those  of  its  older  brethren.  You  meet 
with  no  corals  or  other  shells  which  indicate  toler- 
ably deep  water.  Instead  you  have  abundance 
of  periwinkles,  cockles,  mussels,  whelks,  purple 
shells,  &c.,  associated  with  myriads  of  Tellina  aud 
Mactra,  as  well  as  winkle-traps  and  Ceritliiion. 
Associated  with  these  are  brackish-water  shells, 
and  such  purely  fresh-water  mollusca  as  Lijmnea, 
Planorbis,  &c,  and  even  land-snails,  which  had 
been  brought  down  by  the  tributary  streams, 
aud  eventually  strewn  along  the  bottom  of 
the  estuary  where  the  Norwich  Crag  was  slowly 
forming.  Altogether,  no  fewer  than  one  hundred 
and  twenty  species  of  mollusca  have  been  derived 
from  this  bed.  Underneath  it  you  may  see  a  similar 
stone  bed  to  that  underlying  the  Red  Crag  in 
Suffolk,  and,  like  it,  testifying  to  its  having  been 
an  old  land-surface  of  the  solid  chalk ;  for  here 
are  abundant  remains  of  deer,  elephant,  rhinoceros, 
mastodon,  &c. 

Such  are  the  relative  geological  conditions  of  us 
three  Crags.  After  the  formation  of  the  latter,  a 
depression  ensued,  which  brought  the  sea  over  what 
had  previously  been  merely  an  estuary,  and  along 
its  floor  was  formed  another  bed  of  crag,  in  which 
marine  shells  only  have  been  met  with.  At  Aldeby, 
on  the  borders  of  Suffolk,  you  may  see  the  shells  of 
this  bed  occupying  their  original  position,  the  Myas, 
for  example,  being  found  erect  in  the  sand.  Neither 
in  the  old  Norwich  Crag,  nor  in  this  later  bed,  do 
you  come  across  any  "  southern  "  shells ;  whilst  it 
is  evident  that  the  percentage  of  "northern" 
species  was  proportionately  increasing.  This  is 
good  evidence  of  the  fast-encroaching  cold, — a  cold 
which  shortly  afterwards  set  in,  as  the  drift-beds 
overlying  these  crags,  and  into  which  the  upper- 
most beds  silently  pass,  plainly  attest.  The  Upper 
Crag,  indeed,  is  a  sort  of  bracket  between  the  Plio- 
cene and  the  Pleistocene,  or  "  Glacial "  series. 

It  is  interesting  to  note,  as  you  analyze  the  shells 
of  the  crags  we  have  mentioned,  how  the  percent- 
ages of  recent  or  living  shells  to  those  which  are 
extinct  bears  out  their  relative  ages.  Thus  you 
find  less  than  ten  per  cent,  of  extinct  shells  in 
the  Upper  Crag  just  named.  In  the  Norwich  beds 
there  are  eighteen  per  cent.,  in  the  Red  Crag 
twenty-five,  and  in  the  Coralline  Crag  thirty-one. 
How  long  it  is  since  the  Norwich  Crag  was  formed, 
you  may  gather  by  the  fact  that  some  of  its  repre- 
sentative shells  are  now  living  only  in  certain  parts 
of  the  Pacific ! 

There  are  beds  of  the  same  age  as  the  Coralline 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-  GOSSIP. 


273 


Crag  in  Belgium,  but  these  are  often  hardened  into 
stone.  They  may,  and  perhaps  are,  somewhat 
older  than  those  we  have  been  attempting  to  de- 
scribe, and  may  lie  regarded  as  connecting  the 
Miocene  with  the  Pliocene  period,  just  as  the  last- 
mentioned  crag-bed  connects  the  latter  epoch  with 
the  Glacial.  We  have  ample  proofs  that  this  Bel- 
gian bed  extended  across  the  German  Ocean  into 
Suffolk,  where  it  was  broken  up,  and  the  fragments, 
rolled  and  angular,  are  often  found  in  abundance  at 
the  base  of  the  Red  Crag,  and  known  by  the  local 
name  of  "Box-stones." 

In  Sicily  beds  of  Pliocene  age  abound,  and  have 
been  uplifted  to  3,000  feet  above  the  sea-level 
since  the  time  when  the  Norfolk  and  Sulfolk  beds 
were  formed.  Many  of  the  shells  spoken  of,  which 
migrated  from  English  latitudes  during  the  later 
Pliocene,  and  when  the  cold  was  increasing,  took 
up  their  habitats  in  Sicilian  seas,  and  are  now  found 
fossilized  in  the  limestones.  Since  then  their  de- 
scendants have  returned  to  their  original  English 
home,  and,  as  the  oyster  and  mussel,  administer  to 
modern  English  appetites.  The  oldest  of  these 
Sicilian  beds,  perhaps  contemporaneous  with  the 
Coralline  Crag,  was  strewn  over  an  area  that  was 
subject  to  volcanic  shocks.  Occasionally  volcanic 
ashes  were  intercalated  with  the  shell  marl.  At 
length,  by  the  simple  accumulation  of  volcanic 
ashes  and  lava,  during  a  slow  elevation  as  well,  a 
great  mountain  11,000  feet  in  height  was  formed ! 
That  mountain  was  Etna,  and  the  Pliocene  shell- 
beds  at  the  height  of  1,200  feet  along  its  flanks  indi- 
cate its  recent  origin.  In  Italy,  just  above  Biorence, 
there  was  a  great  fresh-water  lake,  into  which  the 
rivers  occasionally  carried  carcasses  of  mastodons, 
elephants,  &c.  The  deposits  which  formed  along  its 
bottom  accumulated  to  250  feet  in  thickness.  All 
over  the  Northern  hemisphere  great  zoological  as 
well  as  physical  changes  occurred  during  the  period 
of  the  "  Crags."  Animal  life  slowly  prepared  for  that 
great  event  which  wrapped  Europe  in  glacial  ice  for 
tens  of  thousands  of  years.  All  these  facts  may  be 
more  or  less  accurately  and  minutely  read  off  in  the 
sometimes  loose  and  unconsolidated  strata  of  the 
Pliocene  age,  of  which  we  Crag-beds  are  the  English 
representatives. 

ANTS  AND  THEIR  SLAVES. 

ff^HERE  are  two  species  of  ants  which  are  accus- 
-■-  tomed  to  make  predatory  incursions  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  off  the  larva:  and  pupa?  of  their 
black  brethren,— Polyergits  rufescens  and  Formica 
xanguuiea.  As  neither  of  these  ants  arc  natives  of 
Britain,  we  have  not  the  opportunity  of  watching 
their  habits  for  ourselves ;  and,  under  these  circum- 
stances, I  venture  to  think  that  a  short  account  of 
their  expeditions  will  not  be  uninteresting  to  the 
readers  of  Science-Gossip.    The  predatory  ants 


do  not  leave  their  nests  for  these  incursions  till  the 
male  insects  are  nearly  ready  to  emerge,  and  then 
they  send  out  scouts,  who  run  over  the  adjacent 
fields  in  search  of  a  nest  of  ncgro-ants  ;  or  if  these 
are  not  to  be  found,  they  look  out  for  some  other 
species,  such  as  the  miners  (F.  citrucularia),  though 
these  latter  are  very  courageous.  Huber  says  of 
them  :  "  These  ants  will  fight  with  the  most  obsti- 
nate courage,  scarcely  yielding  an  inch.  In  fact, 
as  soon  as  their  assailants  are  in  sight,  myriads  of 
miners  rush  upon  them  with  great  fury,  and  the 
nest  becomes  the  scene  of  a  terrific  conflict ;  and 
though  the  red  ants  are  larger  in  size,  and  usually 
number  more  than  the  miners,  they  are  often  beaten 
off  by  the  latter."  But  to  return.  When  the 
scouts  come  back  to  the  nest,  active  preparation  is 
made  for  the  impending  expedition,  and  the  war- 
riors who  are  destined  to  take  part  in  it  are  selected. 
The  ants  now  get  so  excited  that  they  butt  at  each 
other  witli  great  violence,  and  let  out  their  exuber- 
ant spirits  by  cleaning  their  legs  and  antennae,  and 
by  general  and  ceaseless  activity.  On  the  following 
day,  about  four  o'clock,  the  chosen  band  sallies 
forth,  being  preceded  by  an  advanced  guard  of  a 
dozen  ants,  who  march  before  the  main  body  for 
about  a  yard,  and  then  wheel  round  and  take  their 
place  at  the  rear,  their  former  position  being  occu- 
pied by  the  front  rank  of  the  main  body,  who  fall 
back  in  their  turn,  and  are  replaced  as  before.  Thus 
they  march  until  they  approach  the  negro  camp, when 
they  separate,  each  ant  pursuing  a  devious  course 
through  the  grass,  and  coming  suddenly  on  the  formi- 
cary, which  is  frequently  left  unguarded.  In  gene- 
ral, the  black  ants  make  no  attempt  to  defend  their 
progeny,  but  beat  a  precipitate  retreat  from  one 
side  of  the  nest  as  the  plunderers  enter  the  other. 
Occasionally,  however,  a  fight  takes  place,  in  which 
the  negroes  are  invariably  vanquished,  being  placed, 
at  a  disadvantage  and  terror-stricken  by  the  sudden 
nature  of  the  attack.  After  the  battle  the  pupae 
are  transported  to  the  nest  of  their  captors,  where, 
however,  they  suffer  no  diminution  of  happiness, 
being  brought  up  and  employed  in  the  same  way  as 
they  would  have  been  in  their  own  home.  The 
motive  which  induces  the  rufescent  ants  to  make 
these  excursions  is  their  excessive  indolence.  The 
negro  slaves  do  all  the  work,  even  feeding  and 
carrying  about  their  masters,  and  not  unfrequently 
obtain  such  an  ascendancy  over  them  as  to  reverse 
their  respective  positions.  Eor  instance,  they  will 
not  allow  them  to  go  out  on  their  expeditions  before 
the  proper  time ;  and  if  they  return  without  their 
usual  booty,  the  negroes  show  their  displeasure  by 
attacking  them  and  preventing  their  entry  into  the 
nest.  Kirby  and  Spence,  in  their  "  Entomology," 
say  that  the  rufescent  ants,  in  addition  to  the 
pupae,  carry  off  prisoners,  whom  they  ultimately 
devour.  But  this  is  doubtful. 
Blackheath.  E.  C.  Lefroy. 


274 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


PHIZES  EOll  COMPETITION  IN  BOTANY, 
MICROSCOPY,  AND  GEOLOGY. 

BY  the  kindness  of  several  distinguished  friends 
of  the  Saturday  half-holiday  in  London,  the 
sum  of  thirty  guineas  is  proposed  to  be  offered  for 
competition  to  London  field-naturalists  and  micro- 
scopists,  for  the  encouragmcnt  of  Saturday  after- 
noon  field  excursions  for  botanical,  geological, 
and  microscopical  purposes. 

Her  Grace  the  Duchess  of  Sutherland,  the 
Countess  of  Ducie,  and  the  Most  Noble  the  Mar- 
quis of  Westminster,  believing  that  the  proposal 
would  tend  to  popularize  pleasant  and  instructive 
recreation  on  the  Saturday  afternoon,  and  commend 
the  Saturday  half-holiday  in  departments  of  busi- 
ness where  this  weekly  boon  is  greatly  needed, 
have  kindly  intrusted  the  Committee  of  the  Early- 
closing  Association  with  a  fund  for  this  purpose. 

The  following  are  the  prizes  and  the  subjects 
proposed  for  competition : — 

1.  The  Duchess  of  Sutherland's  Prize  of  Ten 
Guineas, for  Botanists— £5.  5s.  for  the  best  col- 
lection of  mosses,  including  the  H&paticce,  obtained 
within  twenty  miles  of  London;  £3.  3s.  for  the 
second  best  collection;  £2.  2s.  for  the  third  best 
collection. 

2.  The  Countess  of  Ducie's  Prize  of  Ten  Guineas, 
for  Microscopists.—£o.  5s.   for  the  best  list  of  the 

ponds  and  other  aquatic  resorts  within  fifteen  miles 
of  London,  and  the  Jlicrozoa  found  in  them,  in  the 
twelve  months  between  1871,  and 

1S72,  giving  the  locality  of  pond,  the  date  of  the 
visit,  and  the  state  of  the  weather  at  the  time ; 
£3.  3s.  for  the  second  best  collection  ;  £2.  2s.  for 
the  third  best  collection. 

3.  The  Marquis  of  Westminster's  Prize  of  Ten 
Guineas,  for  Geologists.— £5.  5s.  for  the  best  list  of 
open  geological  sections  and  exposures  of  the  strata 
of  the  London  district,  giving  the  fossil  species 
found  at  each  section  (in  the  order  of  their  abun- 
dance) and  the  characteristic  species  of  each 
formation  exposed.  (Note.— As  the  object  is  to 
obtain  information  for  the  purpose  of  field-excur- 
sions, the  sections  given  must  be  such  as  are  now 
open,  and  likely  to  continue  open  for  several  years  ; 
e.g.,  chalk-pits,  gravel-pits,  sand-pits,  clay-pits,  and 
similar  excavations.  The  natural  exposures  given 
should  also  be  accessible  for  at  least  the  next  few 
years.  £5.  5s.  for  the  best  notes  on  the  connection 
of  the  landscape  scenery  of  the  London  district 
with  its  geology. 

The  papers  on  Geology  and  Microscopy  (sub- 
jects 2  and  3)  must  not  in  any  instance  exceed  in 
length  two  columns  of  The  Times  newspaper  Par- 
liamentary debates. 

Professional  collectors  and  dealers  are  excluded 
from  the  competition.      The  prizes  are  intended 


exclusively  for  those  with  whom  Natural  History 
pursuits  are  solely  the  recreation  of  their  leisure 
after-business  hours. 

Henry  "Walker,  Secretary. 
Early-Closing  Association, 

100,  Fleet  Street,  B.C. 


CHANTING  MICE. 

FOR  some  time  past  I  have  had  a  mouse  about 
my  aviary  making  a  very  queer  noise,  about 
as  loud  as  the  steam  of  a  roasting  apple,  but  some- 
what resembling  the  song  of  the  canary ;  that  is, 
that  part  of  the  song  where  the  canary  imitates  the 
titlark. 

I  have  been  told  the  noise  which  i*ue  mouse  makes 
is  caused  through  a  diseased  liver.    Such  is  not  the 
case  with  the  little  animal  in  my  possession,*  for  when 
most  comfortable  he  sings  almost  without  ceasing. 
When  first  taken  he  was  uncommonly  tame,  fed  well, 
cleaned  himself,  and  seemed  as  happy  as  though  he 
had  been  there  all  his  lifetime,  and  this  peculiar  tame- 
ness  was  exhibited  whilst  in  the  mousetrap ;  but 
after  being  in  the  trap  some  hours  he  began  to  get 
cold,  and  then  he  discontinued  his  song.    A  cage 
having  been  procured,  the  chorister  was  transferred 
to  warm  quarters  and  treated  to  some  sop-bread  and 
milk ;  he  was  again  in  full  song,  thereby  proving 
that  it  is  not  disease  which  causes  him  to  make  his 
peculiar  noise.     The  editor  of  "  Routlcdge's  Na- 
tural History"  mentions  mice  imitating  the  song  of 
several  different  birds ;  so,  upon  the  strength  of  his 
remarks,  I  have  hung  mine  near  a  woodlark-linnet. 
Some  years  ago  I  had  a  mouse  in  my  pigeon- 
room  that  nearly  always  made  his  appearance  as 
soon  as  the  birds  were  fed ;  there  was  he,  tail 
cocked  up,  and  looking  like  a  miniature  stuffed 
pig.    After  a  little  time  I  discovered  his  fur  began 
to  disappear,  until  the  poor  thiug  looked  at  last  for. 
all  the  world  like  a  parchment  mouse.    I  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  he  was  an  outcast,  and  that  the 
rest  of  the  mice  stripped  him ;  and  the  only  chance 
he  had  of  getting  food  was  at  the  time  I  fed  my 
pigeons. 

About  seventeen  years  ago  an  intelligent  and 
highly  respectable  person  told  me  of  a  common 
brown  house  mouse  that  used  to  appear  daily  and 
climb  upon  the  table  whilst  the  servant  was  at 
breakfast.  After  the  little  creature  had  taken  his 
repast,  he  would  descend,  disappear  behind  the 
dresser,  and  then  commence  its  song.  One  morning 
a  mouse  was  found  caught  in  a  trap,  and  from  the 
knowledge  they  had  of  the  tame  mouse,  which  they 
thought  had  a  longer  head  than  usual,  their  fears 
were  aroused ;  and  not  without  cause,  for  the  odd 
mouse  was  seen  no  more. 

Ciias.  J.  W.  Rudd. 


A  trap  was  set,  and  the  song3ter  soon  caught. 


HARDYVICKE'S    SC  IEN  CE-  GO  S  S  I  P. 


2?5 


THE  ORANGE  PEZIZA. 

rpHE  following  account  of  the  fructification  of  a 
-7"  fungus  may,  I  think,  prove  interesting  to  some 
of  the  readers  of  Science-Gossip,  if  they  are  as  un- 
acquainted with  the  process  as  I  was  myself;  but  I 
must,  from  the  commencement,  start  with  the  proviso 
that  the  language  need  not  be  scientific,  for  I  have 
never  made  fungi  a  study  ;  the  circumstances  even 
which  led  me  to  examine  the  specimen  now  under 
consideration  being  for  the  most  part  accidental. 

Taking  a  country  walk  a  few  days  ago,  I  was 
struck  by  noticing  a  large  number  of  an  orange- 
coloured  fungus  growing  between  the  stones  of  a 
newly-made  macadamized  road,  some  small,  others 
reaching  to  about  two  inches  across,  the  colour 
usually  being  as  near  that  of  a  carrot  as  possible, 
the  shape, when  full-grown,  something  like  a  human 
ear. 


Fig.  137.  Peziza  aurantia,  nat.  size. 

I  collected  about  half  a  dozen,  and  having  an 
aquarium  with  a  ledge  above  the  water  for  ferns, 
&c,  I  thought  a  few  would  not  look  unornamental 
in  it.  Accordingly,  I  brought  them  home,  and 
safely  deposited  them  on  the  aforesaid  ledge  of 
the  aquarium,  which,  by  the  way,  is  covered  over 
with  two  sheets  of  glass. 

The  following  day  they  were  left  undisturbed ;  but, 
the  day  after,  I  lifted  the  glass  off  to  look  at  them , 
when  I  was  surprised  to  see  the  largest  suddenly 
enveloped  in  what  appeared  to  be  a  cloud  of  steam ; 
but  it  immediately  struck  me  that  no  doubt  it  was 
by  some  means  ejecting  its  spores,  and  that  the 
secondary  cause  of  the  ejection  was  the  gentle  rush 
of  air  occasioned  by  removing  the  glass.  To  see  if 
this  were  the  case,  I  blew  upon  another,  and  found 
that  about  a  second  after  I  had  blown  it  showered 
out,  if  I  may  so  say,  in  all  directions,  chiefly  round 
the  edge,  which  was  probably  the  ripest  part.  I  did 
this  repeatedly,  and  found  that,  after  they  had  been 
left  live  minutes  or  so,  the  same  effect  followed  about 
a  second  after  they  had  been,  blown  upon  ;  and  what 
surprised  me   still  more  was,  that  several  time 


t 


,ov 


■ 


Fig.  158.  Ascus  and 
Sporidia  x  320. 


the  "shower"  in  issuing  forth  made  a  distinct  sound, 
which  I  cannot  better  describe  than  as  a  slight 
"  fizz."  To  put  the  matter  beyond  doubt,  I  called 
another  witness,  who  agreed 
with  me  that  there  was  not 
the  slightest  doubt  about 
the  "  shower  "  or  the  sound. 
The  question  now  arises, 
how  is  the  sound  caused  ? — 
by  the  rushing  of  the  —  I 
think  I  may  safely  say — mil- 
lions of  spores  through  the 
air  ? — by  the  friction  occa- 
sioned by  their  exit  ? — or  by 
the  prime  cause  that  com- 
pels them  thus  to  issue 
forth  ? 

Before  putting  them  under 
the  microscope  there  is  one 
other  curious  fact  to  notice, 

and  that  is,  that  after  dark  I  could  not  obtain  any 
"showers."  This  might  be  attributed  to  my  not 
being  able  to  distinguish  the  spores  by  gas-light ; 
but  this  was  not  the  case,  for  during  the  day,  after 
blowing,  I  put  a  glass  slide  over  them,  and  obtained 
countless  spores  on  it.  But  at  night  I  repeatedly 
tried  the  whole  of  the  fungi,  and  never  collected  a 
single  spore ;  nor  have  I  in  the  morning ;  the  best 
time  for  the  phenomenon  seeming  to  be  the  after- 
noon, I  suppose  on  account  of  its  being  the 
warmest  and  brightest  part  of  the  day ;  but  they 
do  not  appear  to  like  either  too  much  heat  or  too 
much  damp,  but  a  medium  quantity.  I  will  not  fill 
up  space  by  narrating  how  1  came  to  this  conclusion. 

Having  collected  a  great  number  of  spores  on 
a  glass  slide,  by  placing  it  over  the  fungus  after 
blowing  (the  spores  being  often  thrown  to  the 
height  of  an  inch  or  more),  I  put  them  under  the 
microscope  with  a  rather  powerful  object-glass,  and 
found  them  to  consist  of  minute  oval  particles, 
varying  in  length,  as  far  as  I  could  make  out,  from 


— '—  to 


of  an  inch,  filled  with  other  minute 


•JOUti      •^     i>  4  O  ( ) 

particles.  The  formation  of  each  spore  was  more 
apparent  after  they  were  mounted  in  Canada  bal- 
sam and  viewed  through  the  polariscope,  when  each 
was  seen  to  consist  of  two  distinct  granules,  united 
together  with,  and  surrounded  by,  a  transparent 
covering. 

Afterwards  I  examined  a  thin  section  of  the 
fungus  itself,  and  saw  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
interior  was  composed  of  the  spores  arranged  in 
long  lubes,  the  spores  being  not  exactly  end  to  end 
but  slightly  slanting,  as  would  be  the  case  if  eggs 
were  placed  in  a  tube  somewhat  too  large  for  them. 
These  tubes  terminated  in  slight  hollow  eminences 
on  the  surface,  through  the  mouths  of  which  the 
spores  were  ejected.  What  I  wished  to  discover, 
but  could  not,  although  I  examined  them  intently 
for  two  hours,  was  the  prime  cause  of  their  ejection. 


276 


HARDWICKE'S    SC1E  N  CE-GOSS  IP. 


-Carpenter  tells  us  that  spiral  springs  act  thus  in 
some  fungi,  but  I  could  not  trace  the  slightest 
resemblance  to  a  spring;  and  even  were  they 
springs,  why  should  a  puff  of  wind  occasion  such 
thousands  to  act?  A.  E.  de  Mokavia. 


THE  POX-MOTH. 

I  THINK  I  can  assist    your  correspondent  R. 
Gariit  toa  knowledge  of  the  life-history  of  Lasio- 
■campaRubi  (Pox-moth).  It  abounds  on  those  parts 
of   the    Lincolnshire  sea-banks   where  Hippophae 
rhamnoicles  (Sea  Buckthorn)  grows.    I  have  visited 
that  coast  for  thirty  years  past,  and  on  all  occa- 
sions have  observed  the  larva}  in  profusion.     The 
"  natives,"  as  Mr.  Garfit  terms  them,  are  not  an 
observing  people,  and  as  a  rule,  are  unaware  of  the 
existence  of  the  insect  on  their  coast.    This  is  in 
some  measure  accounted  for  by, the  fact  that  the 
larva?,  when  sufficiently  grown  to  be  conspicuous, 
■conceal  themselves  during  the    day.    I  have  fre- 
quently gathered  them  in  the  autumn  when  nearly 
full-grown,  bringing  them  inland  with  a  supply  of 
the  Sea  Buckthorn :   on  this  they  would  feed  for 
several  weeks  and  then  retire  for  hybernation  :  the 
great  difficulty  is  to  carry  them  through  the  winter. 
My  most  successful  year  was  when  I  put  them  into 
a  large  box  without  a  lid,  about  half-filled  with  earth, 
and  over  this,  moss,  leaves,  and  other  debris,  to 
•enable  them  to  conceal  themselves,  covering  it  with 
wire  netting  of  sufficiently  small  mesh  to  prevent 
-escape.    The  box  was  placed  in  a  sheltered  place 
in  the  garden,  where  it  remained  during  winter. 
When  the  larvae  began  to  move  in  the  spring,  I 
threw  in  budding  branches  of  hawthorn,  sprigs  of 
heath,  &c.    Whether  they  fed  at  all,  I  am  unable 
to  say ;  many  died  during  the  winter,  others  in  the 
act  of  spinning  their  cocoons ;  those  which  suc- 
ceeded in  reaching  the  perfect  state,  emerged  the 
end  of  May  and   beginning  of  June :    less  than 
twenty  per  cent,  of  the  brood  attained  the  imago 
state.    Another  year  I  wintered  them  in  a  cool  pot- 
ting-house  ;  but  on  this  occasion  I  was  even  less  suc- 
cessful. The  eggs  of  this  moth  are  deposited  in  May 
and  June,  but  the  young  larvae  are  not  much  seen 
until  about  an  inch  long ;  they  are  then  velvety- 
black,  with  a  gold-coloured  ring  round  each  seg- 
ment •.  their  appearance  varies   at  each  moult  (it 
would  occupy  too  much  space  to  give  the  detail 
here).  Finally,  they  are  reddish-brown,  with  yellow 
•and  black  between  each  segment :  these  markings 
show  finely  when  the  larva  is  in  motion, — beneath 
bluish,  and  about  three  inches  in  length.   The  larva?, 
when  young,  appear  to  feed  at  all  hours;  but,  as  I 
have  said,  the  hearty  full-grown  ones  aiehid  during 
the  day,  coming  up  to  do  so  at  sunset;   they  are 
then  very  conspicuous  objects.    They  retire  to  their 
winter  quarters  on  the  approach  of  cold  weather, 
•xe-appearing  for  a  brief  period  in  spring,  then  change 


to  the  chrysalis  state,  iu  which  they  continue  several 
weeks,  the  moth  emerging  about  the  end  of  May. 
Along  the  Lincolnshire  coast,  by  Crofts,  Skegness. 
Winthorpe,  and  farther  north,  the  sea-banks  are  for 
miles  covered  with  the  Sea  Buckthorn.  This  is  a 
grand  feeding-ground  for  the  larva;  of  L.  Rubi,  and 
iu  the  June  twilight  the  male  moth  may  be  seen 
wildly  coursing  about  in  search  of  the  female.  At 
the  time  I  collected  this  insect,  I  was  engaged  in 
making  pictorial  illustrations  of  the  life-history  of 
the  Bombycida?.  On  referring  to  the  drawings,  I 
find  the  larva  of  Rubi  depicted  in  its  various  stages 
of  growth.  If  this  would  interest  Mr.  Garfit,  I 
should  be  glad  to  afford  him  the  opportunity  of 
seeing  it. 
Newark.  George  Gascovke. 

Fox-moth  (Bombyx  Rubi)  (p.  263).  —  A  corre- 
spondent asks  for  information  about  the  best  treat- 
ment of  these  hybernating  larva?.  Having  reared 
this  species  several  times — once  from  the  egg — I 
may  be  allowed  to  give  my  experience,  though  I  by 
no  means  wish  to  inculcate  that  mine  was  the  besi 
manner  of  treatment.  A  large  box,  with  a  lid  made 
of  perforated  zinc  or  wire  gauze,  a  layer  of  earth, 
covered  with  loose  rubbish  and  moss  in  the  bottom, 
and  the  whole  placed  out  of  doors.  Take  care  that 
the  bottom  of  the  box  is  perforated,  so  that  the 
moisture  may  drain  off.  I  placed  the  larva?  therein 
with  their  food — generally  heather— in  the  autumn, 
and  when  the  cold  became  severe,  the  majority  of 
them  sought  shelter  in  the  moss,  &c,  provided  for 
them.  These  larva?  are  able  to  stand  very  intense 
cold,  often  before  they  hybernate  appearing  to  be 
quite  frozen,  and  sometimes  they  are  attacked  with 
a  white  kind  of  mould,  which  causes  them  to  die  off 
rapidly.  One  season  nearly  the  whole  I  found  thus 
perished-  Though  this  species  hyberuates  in  the 
larva  state,  it  is  usually,  if  not  invaiiably,  full-fed 
when  entering  its  winter  quarters.  It  comes  out 
again  in  March  (but,  as  far  as  I  could  observe,  never 
feeds),  and  soon  spins  a  large,  loose,  blackish-look- 
ing cocoon,  which  produces  a  moth  at  the  end  of 
May.  The  moth  is  found  commonly  on  all  the 
heaths  of  the  New  Porest  and  its  vicinity. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Parus  caudatus. — The  Long-tailed  Titmouse  is 
a  bird  which  ought  to  be  cherished  by  all  possessors 
of  fields  and  gardens,  for  there  is  scarcely  a  more 
determined  enemy  to  the  many  noxious  insects 
which  destroy  the  fruits,  vegetables,  and  flowers. 
Fortunately  for  ourselves,  the  Long-tailed  Titmouse 
is  very  fond  of  the  various  sawflies  which  work 
such  mischief  among  our  fruit-trees,  and  often  lay 
waste  whole  acres  of  gooseberries;  and  it  is  no 
exaggeration  to  say  that,  to  a  possessor  of  an  orchard 
or  fruit-garden  of  any  kind,  every  long-tailed  tit- 
mouse is  well  worth  its  little  weight  in  gold.    When 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


277 


then,  we  come  to  consider  the  inestimable  and  un- 
appreciated services  which  this  tiny  bird  renders  to 
mankind,  we  should  not  only  be  devoid  of  all  grati- 
tude, but  likewise  of  all  common  sense— which, 
however,  comes  to  much  the  same  point— were  we 
willingly  to  destroy  our  feathered  benefactor. — 
Wood,  Homes  without  Hands. 

The  Crimson  Speckled  Eootmax  (Deiopeia 
pulchella). — It  has  several  times  been  noticed  that 
in  what  is  called  a  bad  season  for  insects,  some 
conspicuous  rarity  will  turn  up  in  more  or  less 
abundance,  just  as  if  it  waited  for  such  an  opportu- 
nity to  make  itself  more  notable.  The  very  rare  and 
handsome  moth  above  named  has  occurred  this  year 
in  various  places  very  diverse  from  each  other. 
The  following  may  be  cited  as  examples :— Man- 
chester, Ipswich,  Newport  (Mon.),  Brighton,  Dover, 
and  Cornwall.  Its  capture  in  Devonshire  is  recorded 
in  last  mouth's  Science-Gossip.  All  the  speci- 
mens were  taken  between  the  4th  and  ISth  of 
September ;  and  it  is  observable  that  the  southern 
individuals  did  not  appear  on  the  wing  markedly 
sooner  than  the  northern.  The  reports  of  these 
captures  do  not  throw  much  light  upon  its  habits. 
On  one  point,  indeed,  opinions  differ ;  for  while 
one  correspondent  of  an  entomological  periodical 
thinks  it  of  sluggish  habit,  like  most  of  the  footmen 
moths,  another,  who  followed  one  for  some  distance, 
believes  that  it  is  a  brisker  species  than  its  brethren. 

— /.  b.  s.  a 

Scarcity  of  the  Common  Blue  Butterfly 
{Lycane  Alexis). — The  ungenial  weather  which  pre- 
vailed during  the  spring  and  early  summer  of  1S71 
had  a  very  perceptible  effect  upon  many  species  of 
our  butterflies,  tending  to  diminish  their  numbers. 
Several  friends,  entomological  and  non-entomolo- 
gical, called  my  attention  to  the  particular  scarcity 
of  the  common  blue,  which,  as  it  flutters  about  the 
fields  and  lanes,  or  fans  its  wings  on  the  blossoms, 
pleases  the  eyes  of  all  lovers  of  nature.  There 
appear  to  be  usually  two  flights  of  this  species, 
though  stragglers  may  be  seen  almost  any  fine 
summer's  day  in  ordinary  years.  In  the  vicinity  of 
London,  and  elsewhere  in  the  south,  only  a  solitary 
one  or  two  appeared  of  the  first  brood,  and  the 
second  was  comparatively  few  in  numbers.  1 
attribute  this  (by  conjecture  only)  to  an  extensive 
destruction  of  the  larvae  feeding  up  in  spring. — 
/.  R.  S.  C. 

Vampire  Bats. — This  morning  we  inspected  a 
coolie's  great  toe  which  had  been  severely  bitten 
by  a  vampire  in  the  night.  And  here  let  me  say 
that  the  popular  disbelief  of  vampire  stories  is  only 
owing  to  English  ignorance  and  disinclination  to 
believe  any  of  the  many  quaint  things  which  John 
Bull  has  not  seen  because  he  does  not  care  to  see 
them.    If  he  comes  to  these  parts  (Trinidad)  he 


must  be  careful  not  to  leave  his  feet  or  hands  out 
of  bed  without  mosquito  curtains.  If  he  has  good 
horses,  he  ought  not  to  leave  them  exposed  at  night 
without  wire-gauze  round  the  stable-shed— a  plan 
which,  to  my  surprise,  I  never  saw  used  in  the 
West  Indies,— otherwise  he  will  be  but  too  likely 
to  find  in  the  morning  a  triangular  bit  cut  out  of 
his  own  flesh,  or,  even  worse,  out  of  his  horse's 
withers  or  throat,  whose  twisting  and  lashing  can- 
not shake  the  tormentor  off ;  and  must  be  content  to 
have  himself  lamed  or  his  horses  weakened  to  stag- 
gering, and  thrown  out  of  collar-work  for  a  week,  as 
I  have  seen  happen  more  than  once  or  twice.  The 
only  method  of  keeping  the  vampire  off,  yet  employed 
in  stables,  is  light ;  and  a  lamp  is  usually  kept  burn- 
ing there.  So  numerous  and  troublesome,  indeed, 
are  the  vampires,  that  there  are  pastures  in  Trinidad 
in  which— at  least  until  the  adjoining  woods  were 
cleared— the  cattle  would  not  fatten  or  even  thrive, 
being  found  morning  after  morning  weak  and  sick 
from  the  bleedings  which  they  had  endured  at 
night. — C.  Khigsley,"At  Last. 

Erratum.— P.  249,  2nd  column,  Sth  line  from 
bottom,  for  "  is  spotted  on  the  wings,"  read  "  is 
without  spots  on  the  wings." —  W.  II.  //". 

Size  of  Snake.— In  the  last  (November)  num- 
ber of  Science-Gossip  mention  is  made  of  a 
snake's 'skin  being  found  which  measured  3  feet 
5^  inches,  and  it  is  recorded  (as  it  deserves)  for  its 
unusual  size.  I  have,  however,  in  my  possession  a 
snake  preserved  in  spirit  which  was  killed  within 
about  a  mile  of  this  house,  in  July,  1SCG,  and  which 
measured  3  feet  10  inches  in  length,  4  inches  in  cir- 


cumference, and  weighed  1  lb.  2h  oz.  This  being 
the  actual  body  of  the  snake,  the  measurements  are 
more  trustworthy  than  can  be  obtained  from  the 
mere  skin. —  George  Guyon,  Ventnor. 

The  Squirrel. — Within  the  last  seven  or  eight 
years  squirrels  have  become  quite  common  about 
here.  I  well  remember  the  excitement  which  the 
first  one  caused.  The  poor  fellow,  like  many 
pioneers  among  the  genus  homo,  M'as  killed  during 
his  explorations  in  a  new  district.  The  same  fate 
befell  the  second,  I  believe  ;  the  third  was  captured 
alive,  and  I  had  him  in  a  cage  for  about  three  years, 
when  he  made  his  escape  through  the  window. 
Since  that  time  they  have  become  more  and  more 
numerous  every  year — three,  four,  and  even  five  or 
six  are  sometimes  reported  as  seen  together.  I 
myself  have  never  seen  more  than  three.  Well, 
now  as  to  his  carnivorous  propensities — the  subject 
at  present  under  discussion  in  Science-Gossip. 
There  is  no  doubt  but  that  some  evidence  has 
been  adduced  to  prove  that  such  propensities  exist. 
First.  We  have  G.  H.  H.,  who  states  that  the  Rev. 
J.  G.  Wood  says  "  that  it  has  been  known  to  eat 
both  eggs  and  young  birds,  and  even  mice,  killing 
its  live  game  in  a  weasel  style,  by  a  bite  at  the  back 


278 


H  A  R  D  W  I C  K  E '  S    S  C I E  N  C  K  -  G  O  S  S  I  P. 


of  the  nock."  This  is  not,  conclusive,  as  Mr.  Saf-  ' 
gent  very  properly  remarks,  unless  "the  squirrels 
he  refers  to  were  in  a  state  of  nature."  Second. 
"We  have  the  P.S.  to  the  letter  of  Barbara  "Wallace 
Fyfe,  which  states:  "An  old  naturalist  has  just  in-  I 
formed  me  that  he  has  often  observed  squirrels 
eating  the  game  eggs."  Third.  We  have  F.  A.  F.,  j 
whose  evidence  I  think  is  the  most  conclusive  of 
any.  We  can  hardly  suppose  that  he  mistook  the  ! 
animal  which  attacked  the  little  rabbit.  All  the  . 
other  evidence,  in  my  opinion,  goes  for  nothing 
until  the  question  is  decided.  I  don't  think  we  are  j 
warranted  in  shooting  down  the  poor  squirrels,  as  I 
cannot  help  supposing  but  that  a  carnivorous  meal 
(if  I  may  use  the  expression)  must  be  of  very  rare 
occurrence  in  the  lifetime  of  a  Sciurus.  For  my 
part,  the  pleasure  derived  from  watching  this  grace- 
ful, agile  animal  skipping  from  tree  to  tree  is  in- 
comparably superior  to  that  pleasure,  or,  rather, 
disgust,  with  which  my  mind  would  be  filled  were  I 
to  witness  the  wholesale  slaughter  at  an  English 
battue.  And  it  is  in  order  to  have  this  slaughter 
more  bloody,  more  perfect,  and  more  complete,  that 
the  gamekeeper  is  permitted  to  kill  one  of  nature's 
most  beautiful  and  graceful  creatures.  In  answer 
to  W.  E.  L.,  I  may  say  that  I  have  never  observed 
the  squirrels  eating  the  young  shoots  of  pines  and 
firs.  I  have,  however,  seen  the  ground  strewn 
hundreds  of  times  with  cones  whose  scales  were 
nearly  all  picked  off,  in  order  to  get  at  the  seeds, 
and  nothing  left  but  the  centre.  I  shall  be  happy 
to  send  W.  E.  L.  some  cones  thus  eaten,  at  the 
first  opportunity,  should  he  give  me  his  address. — 
11.  31.  Earrington,  Fassarol  Bray,  co.  Wicldow. 

P.S.  I  think  it  would  be  very  interesting  if  some 
reader  of  Science-Gossip,  who  may  have  a  squirrel 
in  confinement,  would  try  him  with  a  few  eggs,  and, 
having  closely  observed  his  modus  operandi  when 
breaking  the  shell  and  eating,  let  us  know  the  result. 

The  Squirrel. — I  fear  that  the  accusatious 
against  the  Squirrel,  which  I  see  have  been  made  iu 
your  interesting  pages,  are  but  too  true.  That  he 
eats  young  missel-thrushes  and  other  nestling 
birds ;  that  he  strips  the  shoots  off  young  spruce 
firs  (Pinus  syhestris,  Scotch  pine)  till  they  "  strew 
the  ground,"  are  facts  but  too  well  known  to  the 
woodmen,  keepers,  and  bird-lovers  of  these  parts, 
in  which  he  swarms.  For  my  part,  as  a  preserver 
of  singing  birds,  I  order  every  squirrel  seen  on  my 
grounds  to  be  destroyed.  I  am  very  sorry  for  the 
squirrels;  but  I  prefer  my  birds:  I  do  not  wish 
them  to  be  eaten  alive,  beginning  (as  the  most  dis- 
tinguished English  ornithologist  assures  me)  at  the 
bill.— C.  Kingsley,  Eversley,  Hants. 

Is  it  the  Squirrel  op  Mr.  George  Cox? — 
In  Science-Gossip,  No.  82,  p.  237,  there  appears  a 
somewhat  harsh  stricture  by  the  above-named  gen- 
tleman on  a  paper  in  a  former  number  (SO),  written 


by  the  talented  pen  of  "Miss  Barbara  "Wallace  Fyfe." 
When  a  young  lady  gives  up  the  authority  for  any 
information  she  has  received,  and  that  authority  is 
worthy  of  belief,  it  is  both  rude,  ungenerous,  and 
ungallant  to  meet  her  with  such  a  reply  as  that  to 
which  Mr.  George  Cox  has  appended  his  name. 
However  well  able  Miss  Fyfe  has  shown  herself  to 
meet  such  a  phantom  in  attempted  ornithology  as 
this  Mr.  Cox,  it  is  necessary  that  I  should  bear 
out  that  young  lady's  statements  as  to  every  word 
she  has  put  forth  with  regard  to  the  Squirrel,  and 
the  mischievous  and  predatory  animal  which  the 
Squirrel  really  is.    "When  attacked,  I  hope  I  have 
ever  been  willing  and  able  to  defend  myself  from 
all  assailants ;  but  when  a  clever  girl  is  assailed, 
through  me,  aud  the  truth  of  her  statements  doubted 
by  a  man  really  ignorant  of  the  subject  on  which 
he  labours  to  be  severe,  then  defence  is  not  only  a 
double  duty,  but  it  becomes  a  pleasure,  inasmuch 
as  the  weaker  side,  so  to  speak,  calls  for    some 
support.     I   have  myself  detected  the  squirrels  in 
sucking  pheasants'  eggs,  wood-pigeons'  eggs,  and 
blackbirds'  eggs,  and  shot  them  from  trees  up  into 
which  they  had  carried  the  pheasants'  eggs,  and 
were  in  the  act  of  feasting  on  them,  cup-like,  held 
between  their  hands  in  the  most  artistic  fashion.     I 
have  myself  detected  them  in  killing  and  carrying 
away  young  pheasants  when  hand-rearing  at  the 
coops,  young  wild  ducks,  and  other  young  water- 
fowl,  and  in  one  instance,  in  taking  some  young 
tufted  ducks  from  a  coop,  across  a  field,  across  a 
single  rail,  put  to  stop  cattle  from  straying  down  a 
little  running  rill,   and  have  found  three  of  these 
young  birds  at  the  foot  of  a  fir-tree,  one  bitten  so 
severely  that  it  died ;  but   the   other  two  were 
not  perceptibly  injured,  and  wheu  restored  to  the 
coop  both  of  these  recovered.  The  keeper  then  shot 
both  the  squirrels,  a  male  and  female,  from  the  tree 
beneath  which  they  had  left  the  birds.   I  am  very 
fond  of  rearing  and  taming  young  wood-pigeons  ;  but 
when  I  first  came  to  my  present  residence,  every  egg 
and,  if  hatched,  every  yound  bird  in  the  nests,  was 
eaten.   Mr.  Cox  unwarrantably  assumes   that  all  I 
said  on  the  subject  of  the  Squirrel  to  Miss  Fyfe  was 
"hear-say."     Probably  he  judged  my  sources    of 
information  on  subjects    connected    with    natural 
history  to  be  similar  to  those  on  which  he  has  based 
his  ungenerous  attack.    Having  entered  into   this 
explanation,  I  trust  to  the  generosity  of  the  editor 
and  publisher  of  the    Science-Gossip  to  give  it 
space.  —  Grantley  F.  Berkeley,    Ahlemey  Manor, 
Poole. 

Elephant  Parasite.— The  parasite  figured  and 
described  by  Mr.  Ilichter  at  p.  132,  as  Idolocoris 
elephantis,  was  previously  figured  and  described  by 
E.  Piaget,  as  Htcmatomyzv.s  elephantis  in  TijdachHft 
roor  Entomologie  for  18G9,  page  219,  pi.  11,  figs.  1 
to  14. 


HARDWICKE'S     SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


279 


BOTANY. 

Preserving  the  Colours  oe  Dried  Flowers. 
—May  I  beg  "  H.  E.  W.,"  or  some  other  gifted 
correspondent,  to  confer  a  benefit  on  me— and,  as  I 
know,  many  others— by  describing  the  process  of 
drying  the  Card  of  Flowers  that  she  mentions  in  her 
able  paper  on  "  Skeleton  Leaves"?  It  has  always 
been  a  failing  with  me  in  preserving  the  colours  of 
some  flowers,  sometimes  rare,  that  they  lose  their 
glowing  tints,  no  matter  how  carefully  they  are 
dried  —W.  W.  H,  Manilla  Hall,  Clifton. 

Ergotized  Grass.— One  of  our  arable  fields  is 
sadly  infested  with  Alopecurus  agrestis,  called  by 
the  natives  the  "  black  squitcb."  On  going  over  it 
this  morning  we  were  surprised  to  see  what  vigor- 
ous tufts  of  the  grass  had  this  year  grown  in  the 
swede  crop.  However,  upon  closer  inspection,  we 
were  pleased  to  observe  that  every  specimen  had 
become  ergotized  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  its 
seed  comparatively  innocuous.  The  extent  of  the 
attack  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  esti- 
mate :— We  have  rubbed  off  the  locusta  of  a  single 
spike  of  the  grass,  and  find  their  number  to  be  125. 
Of  these  more  than  half  are  visibly  ergotized,  with 
spurs  varying  from  an  eighth  to  half  an  inch  in 
length,  and  the  rest  seem  so  imperfect  that  we  have 
little  fear  of  the  pest  increasing  greatly  from  the 
seed  of  this  year's  crop.  It  is  fortunate  that  so 
poor  a  grass  is  not  preferred  by  sheep,  as  so  large 
a  quantity  of  ergot  might  have  a  prejudicial  effect 
upon  those  in  the  gravid  state.—/.  B.,  Bradford 
Abbas,  Nov.  1, 1871. 

N.B. — Specimens  will  be  forwarded  to  any  one 
wishing  to  possess  them. 

Calceolaria  gracilis. — In  Science-Gossip  for 
January  1, 1SG8,  will  be  found  a  notice  of  the  occur- 
rence of  this  interesting  little  plant  on  my  farm  in 
Dorsetshire,  by  my  former  pupil,  Mr.  J.  C.  Hudson. 
It  occurred  in  a  large  open  field,  on  a  bank  sloping 
to  the  north,  and  which  at  one  time  was  occupied 
with  a  plantation  of  wood.  It  has  for  some  years 
been  under  rotation  in  farm  crops.  The  plant 
was  first  found  after  the  barley  crop  of  1867  was 
cut,  and  it  continued  to  flower  freely  during  the 
mild  spring  of  1868.  Since  then,  though  we  have 
searched  most  diligently,  the  plaut  has  not  been 
found  until  the  present  October,  and  it  may  now  be 
seen  dotting  the  side  of  the  slope  in  the  oat  stubble. 
The  question  as  to  how  it  came  there  is  still  a 
mystery.  It  grows  sporadically,  and,  like  many 
other  wild  plants  tracking  arable  cultivation,  seems 
only  to  be  seen  on  the  recurrence  of  a  certain  kind 
of  crop.  Of  course  its  claim  to  be  considered  a 
native  is  but  slender ;  still,  its  position  so  far  from 
the  village,  and  the  comparatively  wild  and  open 
position  in  which  the  plant  is  found,  united  to  the 
fact  of  our  specimen  having  no  claim  to  be  consi- 


dered a  garden  denizen,  point  to  it  as  a  naturalized 
agrarian  weed. — /.  B.,  Bradford  Abbas,  Oct.,  1871. 

Lastrea  cristata.— I  found  during  the  past 
summer  a  few  ;roots  of  Lastrea  cristata  in  a  bog 
almost  in  the  centre  of  Delamere  Porest,  Cheshire. 
Dr.  Syme  has  inspected  a  frond,  and  he  at  once 
pronounced  it  to  be  the  true  "  cristata."  I  do  not 
think  that,  because  the  fern  is  rare,  I  ought  selfishly 
to  keep  the  locality  unknown.  I  have  a  better 
opinion  of  my  collecting  friends  than  to  suppose 
they  will  ever  exterminate  any  of  our  rare  native 
plants. — James  F.  Robinson. 

Abnormal  Arenaria  (p.  259).— I  have  no  doubt 
that  Mr.  Holland  is  right  in  referring  "  G.  S.  S.'s  " 
plaut  to  Armaria  serpyllifolia,  a  species  which 
I  have  found  (1  think  more  than  once)  with  folia- 
ceous  flowers. — James  Britten. 

Local  Floras  (p.  259). — My  papers  on  this  sub- 
ject to  which  you  refer,  are  to  be  found  in  the  num- 
bers of  the  Gardeners'  Chronicle  for  xlug.  27,  Sept.  21, 
Oct.  22,  and  Dec.  31,  1870 ;  and  Sept.  23,  1871. 
The  reference  to  "recent  numbers"  is  inexact,  and 
might  mislead. — James  Britten. 

Germinating  Apple. — A  few  days  ago,  on  split- 
ting an  apple,  to  whose  core  some  insect  or  larva 
had  made  a  small  hole,  1  was  surprised  to  find  one 
of  the  pips  had  germinated.  The  hard  outer  cover- 
ing of  the  pip  remained  in  its  original  position,  the 
inner  part,  consisting  of  a  small  white  bulbous- 
looking  substance  audtwo  bright  green  leaflets,  was 
about  an  inch  off,  fixed  firmly  to  the  interior  of 
the  cell  into  which  the  core  was  expanded.— W.  G. 

Monstrous  Leaves. — I  have  by  me  an  oak-leaf, 
picked  off  a  pollard 'oak,  which  measures  11  inches 
long  by  9  inches  wide,  and  a  poplar-leaf  off  a  youug 
tree,  measuring  9  inches  by  8  inches;  also  a  frond  of 
Blechnum  boreale,  the  northern  hard  fern,  which  has 
split  into  two  near  the  tip,  and  one  of  these  sub- 
fronds  has  further  divided  into  two  again,  causing  the 
frond  to  have  three  poiuts  instead  of  one.  I  have 
a  bay-leaf  that  has  divided  iuto  two  leaves  joined 
for  about  half  their  length. — Harry  Leslie,  §,\Moira 
Place,  Southampton. 

Bee  Orchis.— I  observe  in  one  or  two  of  the  late 
numbers  of  your  interesting  periodical  Science- 
Gossip  a  notice  taken  of  the  "  Bee  Orchis."  That 
pretty  flower  grows  in  abundance  at  Ballystanley, 
and  also  in  the  Deer  Park  at  Mount-Heaton^ 
near  Uoscrea,  in  the  county  Tipperary;  but  we 
have  known  it  as  the  "  Bee  Ophrys,"  the  name  given 
to  it  in  Mackey's  "  Flora  Hibernica."  Will  you  be  so 
good  as  to  say  which  is  the  more  correct  designa- 
tion ?  The  gravelled  space  in  the  front  of  my  house 
is  occasionally  infested  with  Nostoc  commune;  is 
there  any  means  of  preventing  the  growth  of  that 
unsightly  plant,  if  so  I  may  call  it  ?— J.  F.  B.,  Roscreat 
co.  Tipperary. 


2S0 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


MICROSCOPY. 

Sponge  Spicules.  —  There  are  two  common 
sponges  to  which  I  would  direct  attention  as  fur- 
nishing interesting  spicules.  The  one  is  the  common 
freshwater  sponge,  Spongilla  jluciatilis,  in  which  are 


Fig.  159.  Spicules  of  Spongilla  flubiatilis  x  300. 

spicules  of  two  forms, — one  with  two  discs  like  ser- 
rated wheels  united  by  an  axle,  the  other  slightly 
curved,'pointed  at  each  end,and  rough  on  the  surface. 
These  are  siliceous  spicules,  and  may  be  obtained  by 
the  use  of  nitric  acid.  The  other  is  a  marine  sponge, 
but  the  spicules  are  calcareous,  and  wonld  be  de- 
stroyed by  the  use  of  nitric  acid.  In  this  case 
liquor  potassa;  must  be  employed  to  obtain  the 


Fig.  160.  Spicules  of  Grantia  compresta. 

spicules,  which  are  also  of  two  forms ;  one  being 
tri-radiate  and  the  other  club-shaped  at  one  end 
and  pointed  at  the  other.  The  sponge  is  very 
small  and  white,  and  may  be  found  attached  to  sea. 


weeds.      It    is   called  Grantia    compressa.    These 
spicules  should  have  a  place  in  every  cabinet. — C. 

Scale  of  Loach  {Colitis  barbatula). — We  give 
herewith  a  figure  of  the  scale  of  this  pretty  little 
fish,  which  has  been  obtained  and  placed  at  our 
disposal  by  our  engraver,  Mr.  George  W.  Ruffle. 


Fig.  161.  Scale  of  Loach. 

Paste  Eels. — As  it  may  not  have  fallen  to  the 
lot  of  many  of  the  readers  of  Science-Gossip  to  be 
present  at  the  birth  (?)  of  a  paste  eel,  I  will  relate 
a  case,  leaving  it  to  the  learned  to  decide  whether 
or  not  a  paste  eel  is  bom  at  all.  Having  selected 
a  pregnant  eel  in  which  the  young  were  slightly  in 
motion,  I  placed  it  on  the  stage  of  my  microscope, 
so  as  conveniently  to  observe,  from  time  to  time, 
auy  changes  that  might  take  place  in  their  develop- 
ment. The  first  thing  I  noticed  was  one  of  the 
young  passing  slowly  up  the  body  of  the  parent ; — 
subsequently  another,  then  another,  until  the  whole 
brood  were  in  motion.  But  that  which  surprised 
me  most  was  that  they  had  free  course  backwards 
and  forwards,  from  the  extreme  tip  of  the  tail  to 
the  head  of  the  parent ;  and  this  action  continued 
for  hours,  the  young,  as  time  went  on,  increasing 
in  vigour  and  activity.  As  the  rapidity  of  their 
movements  increased,  the  parent  eel  began  to  exhi- 
bit evident  signs  of  distress,  her  violent  contortions 
indicating  such  intense  agony  that  I  was  greatly 
pained  in  seeing  her.  But  the  young  brood  had 
no  such  compassionate  feelings ;  they  continued 
rushing  to  and  fro  with  redoubled  energy,  seeking 
a  way  of  exit ;  and  this  at  last  they  found  in  a  way 
I  little  anticipated, — the  rupture  of  the  parent's 
body,  from  whence  ten  young  escaped  to  live  on 
paste  awhile,  enjoy  life,  and  then  pass  through  a 
like  ordeal.  But  what  became  of  the  old  lady  ? 
All  that  was  left  of  the  mother  was  her  head, 
gizzard,  and  an  almost  invisible  fragment  of  her 
skin  ;  the  young  cannibals  had  devoured  all  else  of 
their  parent.  She  had  been  long  defunct;  and  the 
violent  contortions  that  had  so  excited  my  sym- 
pathy were  caused  by  the  frantic  efforts  of  the 
young  in  endeavouring  to  escape  from  their  prison- 
house. — A.  Nicholson. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


281 


NOTES     AND    QUERIES. 


Foreign  Names  of  Borage.— Allow  me  to  cor- 
rect a  printer's  error  in  your  October  number.  The 
Spanish  should  have  been  Borraa,  not  Borrada. 
—H.E.JF. 

White  Varieties. — I  find  a  beautiful  albino 
variety  of  the  wild  Fritillaria  {Fritillaria  Mdea- 
gris)  prows  plentifully  in  some  fields  at  Burglifield, 
near  Reading.  As  1  have  often  heard  of  people 
inquiring  for  the  spot,  I  believe  this  is  not  a  common 
flower,  but  I  am  no  botanist. — John  Henderson. 

Aquaria. — The  following  error  occurs  at  paore 
256:— for  "Bathelev,"read  "Sir  Richard  Bulkeley." 
— H.E.JF. 

Saffron. — In  a  work  called  "A  Tour  round 
England/'  by  Walter  Thornbury,  at  page  290,  vol.  i., 
describing  why  the  towu  of  Saffron-Walden  is  so 
called,  namely,  from  the  great  quantities  of  saffron 
formerly  grown  in  that  part  of  Essex,  the  author 
goes  on  to  say :—"  The  first  seeds  or  root  of  this 
valuable  plant  were  brought  from  the  East  by  a 
shrewd  pilgrim  ;  tradition  says,  concealed  in  the 
hollow  top  of  the  staff  which  supported  his  weary 
feet,  and  on  which  he  hung  his  calabash  of  water. 
The  orange-juiced  saffron  is  a  plant  resembling  a 
thistle,  yet  without  down,  and  the  rich  dye  is  extracted 
from  the  full-blown  flower  when  dried."  As  it  is  well 
known  that  saffron  is  obtained  from  the  stigmas  of 
the  saffron  Crocus  {Crocus  sativas),  I  cannot  imagine 
to  what  wonderful  plant  the  above  description  refers. 
Can  any  of  the  readers  of  Science-Gossip  throw 
any  light  on  the  subject  ?  The  author  further  goes 
on  to  say,  "When  we  think  of  this  useful  and  daring 
pilgrim,  of  Peel's  parsley-leaf,  and  of  the  strange 
romantic  history  of  that  daring  renegade  Turk 
who  first  introduced  madder  into  Avignon,  we  see 
that  commerce  also  has  its  romance."  To  what 
does  Peel's  parsley-leaf  refer,  and  what  is  the  history 
of  this  daring  Turk  't—J.F.C. 

Bush-Fires  in  Algeria. — Eromtimeimmemorial 
it  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Arab  herdsmen  to 
burn  all  underwood  from  beneath  the  trees,  topro- 
duce  the  tenderjshoots  of  which  cattle  are  so  fond. 
To  give  some  notion  of  the  enormous  spread  of 
these  conflagrations,  I  have  but  to  quote  from  the 
newspaper  reports  of  1865.  In  1S63,  110,000  acres 
were  burnt  in  the  province  of  Constantine  alone ; 
whilst  in  1865  the  damage  done  amounted  to  258,755 
acres.  In  the  arrondissement  of  Guelma  35,600 
acres  were  destroyed.  The  forest  of  Tefeschoon 
was  burnt  straight  down  to  the  sea  {Moniteur 
d  Algerie): — Hon.  L.  Wingfield  [finder  the  Palms). 

The  Squirrel.— I  would  refer  those  readers  of 
Science-Gossip  who  do  not  believe  that  squirrels 
are  in  the  habit  of  destroying  youug  birds,  to  a  work 
written  by  a  very  old,  much-valued  friend  of  mine, 
entitled  "  My  Life  and  Recollections.  By  the  Hon. 
Grantley  F.  Berkeley."  There,  in  a  chapter  devoted 
to  Natural  History,  vol.  iv.  page  197,  they  will 
find  described  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Berkeley  what  he  has 
himself  seen — not  what  his  keepers  have  reported 
to  him— of  the  destructiveuess  of  this  beautiful  little 
animal.  He  gives  a  most  graphic  account  of  his 
discovering  two  old  squirrels  frisking  about  with 
three  of  his  young  tufted  ducklings,  which  they  had 
carried  off  from  a  shallow  piece  of  water  within 
sight  of  the  old  foster-mother  hen,  who,  confined 


j  within  the  coop,  could  not  come  to  the  rescue. 
The  three  little  ducks  were  alive  when  found  by 
Mr.  Berkeley  in  captivity,  but  one  soon  died  of  the 
wound  inflicted  by  the  squirrel,  who,  when  Mr. 
Berkeley  first  appeared  on  the  scene,  had  the  help- 

:  less  duckling  in  its  mouth  :  the  other  two  had  not 
been  hurt.    Mr.  Berkeley  likewise  mentions  their 

|  affection  for  pheasants'  eggs.  He  shot  one  in  the 
act  of  sucking  an  egg  in  Bedfordshire,  and  he  adds, 
that  it  was  impossible  to_  preserve  either  cushat, 
turtle-dove,  or  blue  rock,  in  his  grounds  or  woods 
at  Alderney  Manor,  in  consequence  of  the  raids 
made  by  the  squirrels  on  both  eggs  and  young  birds. 
1  certainly  never  saw  so  many  squirrels  in  my  life 
as  I  did  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  in  the  vicinity 
of  Bournemouth,  which  is  within  a  short  drive  of 

i  Alderney;  but  1  never  happened  to  see  one  shot. 
However,  I  do  know  that  it  was  found  requisite  to 
wage  war  against  them,  and  that  I  once  had  a  dear 
little  pet  in  an  "  Alderney  "  squirrel,  given  me  by 
its  kind  master,  whose  "Life  and  Recollections"  1 
strongly  recommend  to  the  notice  of  your  readers. 
— Helen  E.  IFatuey,  Bryn  Hyfryd. 


Albinism  in  Plants  and  Animals.— Seeing  in 
Science-Gossip  several  notices  of  white  varieties 
of  plants,  the  following  may  not  be  uninteresting. 
A  short  time  since  1  found  a  specimen  of  Campa- 
nula hederacea  with  one  flower  only  an  albino  ;  all 
the  others  on  the  same  plant  were  of  the  normal 
colour.  I  may  mention  that  the  albiuq  was  not,  a 
pure  white,  but  a  very  near  approach  to  it.  In  the 
same  locality  I  found  three  other  specimens  of  the 
same  plant  having  all  the  flowers  of  a  beautifully 
delicate  white,  and  the  plants  partaking  more  or 
less  of  the  albino  characters.  The  typical  forms 
were  very  abundant  all  round.  They  were  growing 
oil  a  loose  sandy  soil.  I  think  with  J.  H.  A.  Jen- 
ner,  in  the  October  number  of  Science-Gossip, 
that  albinism  is  to  a  certain  extent  connected  with 
calcareous  soils  ;  fori  have  noticed  that  on  moun- 
tain limestone  yellow  flowers  predominate,  and 
white  varieties  are  common,  whilst  on  clays  and 
sandy  soils  blue  and  white  prevail.  But,  in  addition 
to  the  effect  of  certain  soils,  may  not  meteorological 
influences  have  helped  to  produce  t\\&  extra,  number 
of  white  varieties  which  have  been  noticed  this 
year  ?  The  early  spring  and  summer  being  wet  and 
cold  would  exert  a  prejudicial  influence  upon  the 
growth  of  both  plants  and  animals  ;  for  I  have  also 
found  several  white  varieties  of  shells,— one  of  Helix 
rufescens  and  another  of  Zua  lubrica,  whilst  many 
nearly  white  varieties  of  H.  ericetorum  and  H.  vir- 
gata  have  been  found. — Hugh  Perkins,  Sibford,  near 
Banbury,  Oxon. 

The  Hysteriacet.— The  last  number  of  the 
American  Naturalist  contains  a  paper  by  Dr.  Bil- 
lings upon  this  group  of  fungi  illustrated  by  a  plate 
which  does  not  reflect  much  credit  upon  American 
art.  The  paper  itself  is  open  to  more  grave  ob- 
jections than  the  plate,  since  it  ignores  all  value  in 
the  external  features  of  the  penthecia,  and  follows 
the  fatal  but  unfortunately  too  common  plan  _  of 
accepting  the  fruit  as  all-sufficient  for  specific 
characters.  Dr.  Billings  is  new  to  the  field,  but  we 
trust  that  this  maiden  effort  is  not  to  be  accepted 
as  a  type  of  what  we  are  to  expect  in  mycology 
from  beyond  the  Atlantic.  There  is  evidence  of 
good  work  in  the  communication,  but  unfortunately 
turned  to  bad  account ;  let  us  hope  that  a  little 
more  experience,  and  a  little  more  reflection,  will, 
with  time,  work  wonders. 


2S2 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Ixsects  and  Flowers. — In  answer  to  E.  C. 
Lefroy,  I  can  state  that,  although  I  have  not 
noticed _  the  particular  cases  of  predilection  that 
butterflies  have  for  flowers  of  their  own  colour 
which  he  refers  to,  still  I  have  been  equally  sur- 
prised at  the  preference  that  it  seemed  to  me  all 
butterflies,  and  a  great  number  of  other  insects,  have 
for  flowers  of  a  Blue  or  purple  tint,  excepting  the 
common  Garden  White,  which  always  appeared  to 
me  to  appreciate  the  delicate  pink  of  the  moss  or 
cabbage  rose,  or  the  white  candytuft,  if  there  was 
any  in  the  garden.  This  summer,  too,  I  captured 
myriads  of  the  small  blue  and  common  Burnet  moth 
while  visiting  Ireland,  on  a  railway  bank,  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  sea,  on  which  were  growing  pro- 
fusely the  common  Ladies'-fingers  {Anthjllis  rulne- 
raria)  and  the  Rest-harrow  (Onotiis  anensis),  and 
here  and  there  the  beautiful  mountain  Cranesbill 
(G.  pyrenaicum).  Leaving  this  bank,  not  one  was 
to  be  seen;  but  when  I  reached  home  I  found  an 
extremely  large  lavender  hedge  in  the  garden  in 
full  blossom,  together  with  another  trailing  plant  of 
exactly  the  same  tint,  of  which  I  forget  the  name, 
literally  covered  with  the  small  Tortoiseshell  and 
common  brown  butterfly.  But  I  cau  hardly  fancy 
that  it  is  the  colour  alone  that  induces  the  butter- 
flies to  settle  on  certain  flowers,  but  that  the  flavour 
of  the  nectar  influences  the  colour  of  the  blossom, 
and  so  is  a  kind  of  index  to  the  butterflies'  taste. 
Eor  instance,  I  never  saw  a  butterfly,  to  my  remem- 
brance, settle  on  a  red  geranium  or  pelargonium. — 
W.  IF.  H. 

Tennyson  on  the  Habits  of  Certain  Elies. 
— We  must  criticise  sometimes,  even  where  we 
admire;  and  although  I  consider  In  Memoriam, 
taken  as  a  whole,  one  of  the  most  masterly  poetical 
performances  in  the  English  language,  I  decidedly 
dislike  the  third  stanza  ot  the  i'Jth  section.  Its 
Natural  History  is  certainly  very  perplexing.  Ap- 
pealing to  his  departed  friend,  the  bard  cries — 

"  Be  near  me  when  my  faith  is  dry, 
And  men  the  flies  of  latter  spring:, 
That  lay  their  eggs,  and  sting,  and  sing, 
And  weave  their  petty  cells  and  die." 

Considerable  liberty  is_  allowed  to. poets,  as  we 
know,  and  this  poetic  license  plays  strange  tricks 
with  grammar ;  but  in  the  stanza  cited  it  is  ques- 
tionable whether  the  omission  of  a  verb  in  the 
second  line  is  not  going  beyond  the  privilege  con- 
ceded to  a  writer  of  verse.  Passing  from  that, 
however,  I  cannot  but  think  that  these  fliesfare 
very  remarkable  creatures !  I  have  as  yet  failed  to 
find  them,  but  that  may  be  because  1  don't  pre- 
cisely understand  what  the  poet  means  by  "latter 
spring."  If  it  be  the  period  when  spring  is  merg- 
ing into  summer,  then  we  should  look  for  them  in 
May  or  June.  However,  a  friend  suggests  that  as 
flies  are  more  abundant  in  the  autumn  of  the  year, 
by  "latter  spring"  the  poet  may  mean  those  occa- 
sional fine  days  which  we  get  towards  the  close  of 
the  season,  and  which  have  at  times  the  balminess 
ot  spring.  Now,  these  flies  are  represented  as 
doing  four  things:  they  "lay  eggs,"  which  seems 
natural  enough ;  and,  though  placed  first  in  the 
stanza,  need  not  be  supposed  to  be  first  in  order  of 
time.  But,  then,  they  "  sting  and  sing ;"  sing,  be 
it  observed — not  hum  or  buzz.  And,  to  crown 
all, they  "weave  cells"— an  extraordinary  proceed- 
ing for  any  iinagos  of  Diptefa  to  betake  themselves 
to.  And  yet  the  description  could  hardly  apply  to 
bees,  though  stings  are  mentioned.  1  am  afraid 
this  stanza  is  a  proof  that  Tennyson  is  no  entomo- 


logist ;  or,  at  least,  was  not  when  he  wrote  thus. 
However,  we  can  hardly  expect  that  a  poet  should 
write  like  a  naturalist;  and  I  would  rather  he 
should  be  a  little  erratic  from  science  than  attempt 
anything  so  elaborate  as  Darwin's  "Botanic  Gar- 
den." Still,  it  would  be  interesting  to  know  if  the 
author  of  In  Memoriam  really  intended  to  refer  to 
any  particular  species  of  insect,  the  habits  of  which 
he  may  have  partly  observed  and  partly  conjectured. 
—J.  li.  S.  C. 

A  Great  Take  of  Honey.— A  tree  was  felled 
the  other  day  at  Sandy  Creek,  Wagga  "Wagga,  for 
the  purpose  of  procuring  honey,  which  it  was  known 
had  been  collected  there  by  a  rather  large  swarm 
of  bees.  When  the  tree  was  cut  down  there  was 
found  in  the  hollow  one  of  the  most  astonishing 
collections  of  honey  ever  known,  probably,,  to  have 
beeu  gathered  by  one  swarm  of  bees.  There  were 
several  immense  layers  of  comb  ten  feet  ill  length, 
and  of  great  density,  extending  along  the  inside  of 
the  trunk,  and  almost  clothing  the  hollow  of  the 
tree  _  entirely.  After  it  had  been  carried  home 
(having  been  wasted  considerably  by  the  fall  of 
the  tree  and  the  primitive  mode  in  which  it  was 
collected),  the  comb  yielded  over  200  lb.  of  honey 
of  the  purest  quality. — Melbourne  Argus.  The 
above  extract  from  an  Australian  paper  will,  no 
doubt,  be  of  interest  to  bee-keeping  subscribers  of 
Science-Gossip.  '  1  find  the  past  season  has  beeu 
a  very  bad  one  for  honey  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
though  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  two  large 
wooden  supers  from  my  single  Woodbury  hive,  one 
of  which  was  very  well  filled,  and  the  other  not  half 
completed.  In  1S70  I  had  one  super  sealed  over : 
these  supers,  when  full,  contain  30  lb.  to  32  lb.  of 
pure  honey,  unless  we  should  be  so  unfortunate  as 
to  allow  the  queen  to  ascend,  when  a  quantity  of 
brood  comb  is  the  result.— J.  Henderson,  Reading. 

Snii>e. — Walking  on  Dartmoor  on  the  22nd  Octo- 
ber last,  I  saw  a  wisp  of  forty-three  snipe.  Is  not  this 
an  unusually  large  number  ?  They  wheeled  round 
within  thirty  yards  of  me  three  times  before  start- 
ing off  northwards,  presenting  a  lovely  spectacle  as 
they  glittered  in  the  sun.  Their  little  bodies  shone 
like  silver,  and  quite  made  us  all  think  of  the  simi- 
larity the  sight  bore  to  fireworks.— F.  A.  F. 

Recollections  of  a  Hen. — A  pet  hen  which 
was  left  at  liberty  when  young,  and  allowed  admis- 
sion to  the  kitchen,  was  after  a  time  put  into  a 
fowl-house  with  others,  and  kept  there  a  year  and 
a  half,  not  being  let  out  during  that  time.  A  to- 
days ago,  Judy — i.e.  the  pet— was,  with  the  other 
fowls,  put  into  the  garden,  where,  after  a  little  time, 
Judy  was  missed,  and,  on  looking  for  her,  she  was 
found  quite  at  her  ease  by  the  kitchen  fire. — A.E. 

Stixgs. — "J.  W.  W."  will  not,  I  am  afraid,  find 
a  detailed  account  of  the  many  varieties  of  stings  in 
any  one  book.  With  regard  to  the  stinging  pro- 
perties of  nettles,  he  will  find  a  short  explanation 
in  Bentley's  "Manual  of  Botany"  (p.  51).  For 
information  respecting  the  minute  anatomy  of  the 
stings  of  wasps  and  bees,  "  J.  W.  W."  cannot  do 
better  than  refer  to  Dr.  Mill's  excellent  paper  in 
SciENCE-Gossir  for  1SGS  (p.  148,  July  number). 
On  the  poison-glands  in  spiders,  there  arc  several 
good  articles  in  Science-Gossip  for  1S0G.  There 
are  poison-glands  in  the  nettle  ;  and  the  poison  is 
no  doubt  acid,  like  that  of  most  of  the  animal 
poisons. — C.  A'.  JR.,  L.ll.C.P.  Load. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIEN  CE-GOSSIF. 


"Phryganea"? — On  the  loth  of  September  I 
found  some  masses  of  transparent  jelly-like  sub- 
stance, containing  numbers  of  eggs,  arranged,  in 
regular  rows.  These  were  deposited  on  the  leaves 
of  a  willow  bush  and  other  water-loving  plants 
overhanging  a  pond.  I  took  some  of  them  home, 
and  after  keeping  them  for  about  ten  days,  I  put 
them,  leaves  and  all,  in  a  gallipot  half-full  of  water. 
About  the  end  of  the  month  I  found  that  some 
larvae  had  come  out.  These  I  examined  with  a  lens, 
and  they  appeared  active  little  creatures,  superfi- 
cially resembling  the  larvae  of  Dytiscus  marginalia. 
On  the  3rd  of  October  I  again  examined  them,  and 
found  that  the  greater  part  had  formed  cases  for 
themselves  of  fragments  of  the  decayed  leaves. 
They  now  looked  exactly  like  miniature  caddis- 
worms.  Owing  to  leaving  home,  my  observations 
ended  a  day  or  two  after  this.  Can  any  of  the  cor- 
respondents of  Science-Gossip  supply  the  rest  of 
the  history,  and  tell  me  whether  I  am  right  in  sup- 
posing that  these  observations  apply  to  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  genus  Phryganea  (Stephens)  ? — Harry 
Leslie,  6,  Moira  Place,  Southampton. 

Corethba  plumicornis  (Phantom  Larva). — I 
have  kept  one  of  the  larvae  of  this  insect  for  the 
last  six  weeks  in  a  tightly-corked  bottle,  holding  a 
drachm  and  a  half  of  water.  It  has  for  its  com- 
panions several  green  hydras  {Hydra  viridis).  The 
larva  does  not  seem  inclined  to  make  a  meal  of 
them,  or  in  any  way  to  annoy  them.  It  has  grown 
considerably  since  I  captured  it.  Can  any  of  your 
numerous  readers  tell  me  what  the  perfect  Corethra 
is  like  ?— C.  K.  B.,  L.R.C.P.  Loud. 

Pox-jioth  Larvae. — In  reply  to  R.  Garfit,  though 
my  own  attempts  to  keep  the  larvae  of  the  fox-moth 
have  been  unsuccessful,  I  heard  of  a  plan  (that  has 
been  successfully  tried)  the  day  before  Science- 
Gossip  came  to  hand.  It  is  simply  to  put  the  larvae 
in  a  box  with  sand,  bits  of  turf,  and  moss.  The 
box  should  have  holes  bored  in  the  bottom,  and  a 
perforated  zinc  top,  and  should  be  kept  out  of  doors 
exposed  to  the  weather ;  and  any  green  stuff  that 
can  be  got  may  be  put  in,  for  my  informant  said 
there  were  several  things  they  would  nibble  in 
winter.  I  should,  of  course,  get  food  as  nearly  like 
their  usual  diet  as  I  could.  In  my  own  experiment 
I  kept  the  box  in  a  cool  cellar ;  and  though  the 
larvae  lived  until  I  could  get  food,  they  had  gra- 
dually dried  up  until  they  were  like  little  dried 
sticks  with  a  morsel  of  life  iu  them.  They  could 
move  a  little  towards  the  food,  but  were  too  far 
gone  to  eat. — C.  L.  Y. 

Canine  Predilection  for  Fruit  (p.  2G3). — I 
have  a  retriever  which  resembles  "  W.  M.  A.  \\  .V 
terrier  in  her  fondness  for  fruit.  In  the  summer 
she  used  to  help  herself  to  strawberries  and  goose- 
berries, but  will  eat  almost  any  fruit  that  is  given 
to  her,  and  has  a  decided  liking  for  an  uncooked 
ponune  de  terre.—  G.  H.  H. 

Remedy  Wanted. — Can  any  of  the  readers  of 
Science-Gossip  help  one  in  the  following  difficulty  ? 
My  house  is  built  of  brick,  covered  with  Roman 
cement.  Last  summer  I  had  it  re-painted;  and, 
unfortunately,  as  is  always  the  case,  it  looked  very 
well  for  about,  a  fortnight,  and  then  dark  patches, 
usually  at  first  of  a  light  purple  colour,  afterwards 
turning  much  deeper,  made  their  appearance.  This, 
on  examination,  proved  to  be  a  fungus  of  that  class 
which  is  composed  of  a  multitude  of  single  spores. 
It  seems  in  time  to  eat  away  both  the  paint  and  the 


surface  of  the  cement ;  and  grows,  not  only  neai 
the  ground,  but  also  higher  up,  but  generally  not 
above  five  to  seven  feet  from  the  surface.  It  cannot 
be  the  damp,  as  the  side  where  it  chiefly  commits 
its  ravages  faces  the  south,  and  receives  the  full 
force  of  the  sun.  The  builder  says  it  is  by  no 
means  uncommon,  but  that  it  lias  never  yet  been 
accounted  for;  some  supposing  it  to  be  caused  by 
using  unwashed  sea  sand  in  the  mortar  or  cement. 
I  therefore  appeal  to  the  readers  of  Science- 
Gossip  to  inform  me,  if  they  can,  of  any  means  to 
kill  a  fungus  under  these  circumstances.  For  the 
encouragement  of  those  who  try  to  oblige  me,  I 
will  add  that  the  builder  assures  me  that  he  who 
discovers  a  remedy  will  speedily  make  his  fortune. 
On  this  point,  however,  I  think  there  may  be  some 
doubt—  A.  E.  M. 

_  A  Pomeranian  Dog  in  the  possession  of  a  rela- 
tion of  mine  is  somewhat  akin  to  the  little  terrier 
mentioned  by  your  correspondent  "  W.  M.  A.  W." 
She  will  eat  raw  eggs  with  much  relish,  making  a 
hole  in  the  shell,  and  wasting  but  little.  She  will 
eat  nuts,  cracking  them  herself;  also  sweetmeats 
greedily.  This  Pomeranian  has  a  very  good  temper, 
allowing  children  to  do  just  as  they  please  with  her, 
tumbling  and  rolling  her  about  seemingly  much  to 
her  delight.— Charles  J.  W.  Eudd. 

White  Shrew.— At  the  end  of  October  a  shrew 
of  a  pure  white  colour  was  sent  me,  but  it  was 
quite  unfit  for  preservation,  as,  on  attempting  to 
skin  it,  all  the  fur  from  its  under  parts  came  off.  I 
preserved  its  head  and  a  portion  of  the  skiu  as  a 
novelty.  Is  such  a  variety  of  rare  occurrence,  or 
must  we  place  it  on  the  same  list  as  the  white 
stoat?.  I  have  several  times  seen  the  latter,  but 
cannot  recollect  ever  seeing  a  white  shrew  before. 
Why  is  it  that  the  Mole,  Shrew,  &c.,  so  soon  de- 
compose after  death  ?  All  who  are  interested  in  the 
preservation  of  their  own  zoological  specimens 
must  have  observed  that  decomposition  takes  place 
much  sooner  iu  the  above  species  than  in  many 
others. — G.B.C.,  Ringwood. 

Manuscript  Magazine  ox  Natural  History. 
— Having  space  for  a  few  new  members,  I  shall  be 
happy  to  hear  from  any  lady  or  gentleman  who 
would  like  to  join  us. — 67.  B.  Corbin,  Ringwood, 
Hants. 

Stag  Beetle. — I  should  like  to  inform  Mr. 
Warner  that  the  "terrible  jaws"  of  the  StagBeetlu 
are  useful  in  a  sense  which  those  who  have  expe- 
rienced it  would,  I  am  sure,  not  think  passive.  If 
he  had  ever  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  get  a  pinch, 
I  do  not  think  he  would  have  said  that  they  only 
served  to  menace  and  terrify,  but  that  they  both 
looked  and  were  formidable  instruments  of  self- 
defence. — ./.  E. 


LOCAL  FIELD  CLUES. 

Vale  of  York  Field  Naturalists'  Clue. — 
Honorary  Secretary,  John  T.  Carrington,  Esq.,  12, 
Micklegate,  York. 

The  Glasgoav  Society  of  Field  Naturalists. 
—Rooms,  187,  George  Street,  Glasgow ;  James 
Allan,  Vice-President,  57,  West  Nile  Street. 

Stalybridge  Naturalists'  Club.— David  Jol- 
lifi'e,  Secretary,  Working  Men's  Institute,  Ridge 
Hill  Lane,  St aly bridge. 


2S4 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


NOTICES  TO   CORRESPONDENTS. 


Am.  communications  relative  to  advertisements,  post-office 
orders,  and  orders  for  the  supply  of  this  Journal,  should  be 
addressed  to  the  Publisher.  All  contributions,  books, 
and  pamphlets  for  the  Editor  should  be  sent  to  192, 
Piccadilly,  London,  W.  To  avoid  disappointment,  contri- 
butions should  not  be  received  later  than  the  15th  of  each 
month.  No  notice  whatever  run  be  taken  of  communica- 
tions which  do  not  contain  the  name  and  address  of  t/ie 
writer, not  necessarily  for  publication,  if  desired  to  be  with- 
held. We  do  not  undertake  to  answer  any  queries  not 
specially  connected  with  Natural  History,  in  accordance 
with  our  acceptance  of  that  term ;  nor  can  we  answer 
queries  which  might  be  solved  by  the  correspondent  by  an 
appeal  to  any  elementary  book  on  the  subject.  We  are 
always  prepared  to  accept  queries  of  a  critical  nature,  and 
to  publish  the  replies,  provided  some  of  our  readers,  besides 
the  querist,  are  likely  to  be  interested  In  them. 


W.  W.— There  is  no  British  work.  For  descriptions  and 
classification,  see  Rabenhorst's  "  Flora  Europrea  Algarum." 

T.  H. — Lists  are  ineligible. 

A.  G.  B.  R.— It  is  beyond  the  range  of  our  experience. 

J.  H.  D.— The  Cow-parsnip,  Heracleum  spondylium.  The 
fungus  is  Erysiphe  Murtii. 

R.  J.  C.  S.— Consult  "  Bechstein's  Cage-Birds,"  of  which 
a  new  edition  is  just  published  by  Robert  Hardwicke,  192, 
Piccadilly. 

E.  G.  V. — Melampsora  populina. 

F.  R.  M. — We  really  cannot  repeatedly  answer  the  same 
questions,  which  a  reference  to  our  previous  volumes  would 
solve  in  an  instant.  Apply  to  Mr.  Janson,  Museum  Street, 
Bloomsbury. 

J.  W.  G.— Apply  to  Mr.  How,  Foster  Lane,  Cheapside,  E.C. 

J.  A. — Sent  by  post. 

M.  A.  J.— The  Shells  are  Trochus  (Gibbulu)  magus,  L.,  and 
Venus  gallina,  L. — C.  A.  S. 

R.E. — The  insects  are  Pimpla  instigator. — E.  S. 

W.  E. —  Calluna  vulgaris,  var.  tnmentosa.—J.  B. 

Rubi  Gkrmanici. — Weihe  &  Nees  ab  Esenbeck's  "  Rubi 
Germanici,"  1 822-7,  folio,  was  originally  three  guineas.  A  copy 
at  thirty-six  shillings  is  noted  in  the  last  catalogue  (No.  201) 
of  Friedlander  &  Son,  Berlin. 

W.  N. — Wre  are  unable  to  name  the  larvrc.  We  know  of  no 
cheap  work  giving  the  English  and  Latin  names  of  British 
insects  in  all  orders.  Such  could  hardly  be  a  very  small  book, 
or  a  very  cheap  one,  if  it  were  published.  You  may  obtain 
such  a  guide  to  the  Lepidoptera,  and  catalogues  of  some 
other  orders. 

S.  A.  S.— The  lichen  is  Boeomyces  byssoides,  L. — C.  W.  C. 

A.  I. — 1.  Lecanora  turtarea.    2.  Lecanora  atra. — C.  W.  C. 

J.  S. — 1.  Polyzoon,  Bugula  plumosu.  2.  Hydroid  Zoophyte, 
Sertularia  urgentea. —  IK.  S.  K. 


EXCHANGES. 

Notice.  — Only  one  "  Exchange''  can  be  inserted  at  a  time 
by  the  same  individual.  The  maximum  length  (except  for 
correspondents  not  residing  in  Great  Britain)  is  three  lines. 
Only  objects  of  Natural  History  permitted.  Notices  must  be 
legibly  written,  in  full,  as  intended  to  be  inserted. 

Australia. — A  gentleman  would  be  glad  to  open  a  cor- 
respondence with  a  view  to  exchanges  of  microscopical  speci- 
mens.— Address,  F.  Barnard,  Kew,  Victoria. 

British  Mosses  (correctly  named)  for  British  Sea-weeds. 
— T.  Rogers,  27,  Oldham  Road,  Manchester. 

Fossils  from  Coal-measures  and  M.  Limestone  for  fossils 
from  the  Devonian. — G.  Rowbotham,  8,  Parsonage  Street, 
Derby  Street,  Salford. 

Eggs  of  Silkworm  for  any  object  of  similar  interest. — T. 
Piekin,  Mont  Fields,  Salop. 

Mosses  and  Lichens  offered  in  exchange  for  others. — Send 
list  to  R.  V.  T.,  Withiel,  Bodmin. 

Pup.B  of  S.  Ligustri  and  perfect  insect  of  D.  ceeruleo- 
eephala  and  Uorydon  offered  for  good  microscopic  slides. — 
E.  Lovett,  Holly  Mount,  Croydon. 

West  African  Beetles  collected  by  Du  Chaillu;  Minerals, 
some  rare,  offered  for  microscopic  slides. — G.,  20,  Maryland 
Road,  Paddington,  W. 

One  dozen  good  slides  (two  dozen  if  requested)  of  selected 
Diatoms,  Spicules,  &c,  for  Bermuda  earth,  genuine  Ichaboe 
guano,  or  equal  diatom  material. — Rev.  J.  K.Jackson,  Talbot 
Street,  Oldbury,   Birmingham. 


Gastric  Teeth,  mounted,  for  others.  —Lists  to  be  for- 
warded to  W.  H.,  46,  Charlotte  Street,  Hull. 

Silene  maritima  and  Spergularia  rupestris,  seeds  of. — 
Send  stamped  directed  envelope  and  object  of  interest  to  Dr. 
Webb,  12,  Brougham  Terrace,  West  Derby  Road,  Liverpool. 

For  Sand  containing  Foramimfera,  &c,  send  object  and 
envelope  to  W.  A.  G.,  10,  Park  Shot,  Richmond,    Surrey. 

Coal  Fossils  in  exchange  for  others.— C.  Robinson,  22, 
Broughton  Road,  Salford. 

Argynnis  Paphia  and  A.  Euphrosyne  in  exchange  for  birds 
eggs  ;  the  former  not  perfect.— Send  list  to  W.  W.W.,  Bal- 
dock,  Herts. 

Unio  cbassus,  Retzius  =  .si"n«a/a,  Lam.  (from  the  Loire, 
&c),  not  Uuio  littoralis,  Dra.p.  =  irassus.  Lam.,  wanted  for 
other  species. — W.  White  Walpole,  Holmwood,  Kingston-on- 
Thames. 

Fine  dried  Heaths  named  by  Professor  Bentham,  and 
British  Mosses  (scarce),  Lower  Lias  fossils,  offered  for  London 
clay  and  other  fossils.  — N.  20,  Maryland  Road,  Paddington,  W. 

Ancvlus  oblongus,  in  exchange  for  any  other  Pritish 
shells.— Address,  H.  Perkins,  Sibford,  near  Banbury,  Oxon. 

Characteristic  Carboniferous  Fossils  for  the  same 
from  any  of  the  Tertiary  formations.  —  J.  Harker,  R.M. 
Lane,  Richmond,  Yorks. 

PLANTS.  -Nos.  158.  555,  556,  558,  707,  820,  954,  1020,  1155, 
1176,  1262*,  1267,  1286, Lond.  Cat.,  for  other  rare  species.— 
Lists  to  A.  B.,  107,  High  Street,  Croydon. 

British  Land  and  Freshwater  Shells  for  others  (British). — 
Address,  A.  H.  S.,  50,  Arlington  Street,  Mornington  Crescent, 
London. 

Vor.vox  gi.obator  (mounted),  in  exchange  for  other  good 
mounted  microscopic  objects.— John  C.  Hutchison,  8,  Lans- 
downe  Crescent,  Glasgow. 

Foraminifera  from  soundings  for  Atlantic  Cable  (well 
mounted),  offered  in  exchange  for  a  good  slide  of  Diatoms  or 
Polycistina.— G.  Bowen,  !>5,  Hampton  Street,  Birmingham. 

Scales  from  various  species  of  Ferns  (mounted  in  balsam" 
offered  for  good  named  slides.— Edward  Ward,  9,  Howard  St., 
Coventry. 

Crystals  of  Oxalate  of  Chromium  and  Potassium,  Salicine, 
Pyrogallic  Acid,  ftc,  well  mounted  for  Polanscope,  for  other 
good  objects.— J.  Hunter,  45,  Kensington  High  Street, 
London. 

For  Celery  and  Raspberry  Brands,  send  stamped  address 
to  Isaac  Wheatley,  Mailing  Street,  Lewes.  Any  microscopical 
object  acceptable. 

Sheep  Tick.— For  a  well-mounted  specimen  send  address, 
&c,  to  A.  Allen,  Felstead,  near  Chelmsford. 

BOOKS    RECEIVED. 

"The  Monthly  Microscopical  Journal,"  for  November, 
1871. 

"  Land  and  Water."     Nos.  362,  363,  364,  365. 

"  Description  of  an  Electrical  Telegraph,"  by  Sir  Francis 
Ronalds,  F.R.S.     2nd.  Edition.     Williams  &  Norgate. 

"  The  American  Naturalist."  Nos.  8  and  9-  September, 
1871. 

"The  Journal  of  Applied  Science,"  for  November,  1871. 

"  The  Animal  World,"  for  November,  I871. 

"Proceedings  of  the  Bristol  Naturalists' Society,"  1871, 
January  to  May. 

"  Cope's  Tobacco  Plant,"  for  November,  1871 . 

"Hindu  View  of  Cholera."  A  Lecture  by  Golaub  Sing, 
M.D. 

"Narrative  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  third  Meeting  of  the 
Worcestershire  Naturalists'  Club  at  Broadwas,"  Aug.  31, 
18/1 . 

"Archives  of  Science  and  Transactions  of  the  Orleans 
County  Society  of  Natural  Sciences."     No.  4.    July,  18/1. 

"The  American  Naturalist,"  for  October,  1871. 

Appendix  to  papers  on  the  Cause  of  Rain,  &c.  by  G.  A. 
Rovvell. 


Communications     Received.- W.    H. — J.    B. —  A. 

F.  A.  F.— E.  G.  V.—  W.  H.  W.-H.  A.  A.-E.  C.  L.— J. 
H.  E.  W.— A.  L.— R.   J.  C.  S.— J.   F.  C— F.  B.— T.  E. 

G.  G.— C.  K.- J.  H.  D.—  T.  R.— S.  A.  S.— W.W.  H.— A.  G. 
— W.W.  W.— R.  V.  T.— T.  O.  W.-A.  W  W.— T.  H.— E. 
C.  J.  W.  R.— M.  M.— T.  P.— G.  R.— J.  R.  S.C.— W.  G.- 
— R.  H.  W.-J.  F.  R.— F.  B.— E.  H.— C.  C.  A.— H.  P.— 
— G.  H.  H.— J.  W.  G.-J.  H.-A.  B.— A.  I.-W.  G. 
J.  F.  R.— T.  G.— G.-G.  B.  C.-R.  M.  B.— G.  B.— H.  B 
W.  W.  W.— J.  A— G.  H.  W.— G.  G— J.  S— D.  J.— J.  C. 
C.  R.— E.C.  J.— C.  L.  J. -J.  K.  J.— A.  E.-W.A.G.— A. 
-C.  K.  R.-J.  B— N.  R.— E.  L.— A.  H.  S.-J.  H.G.— J. 
— F.  R.  M. 


B.— 
H.— 
A.— 
B.  R. 
V. — 
H.L. 

E.  B. 
N.— 

.  L.— 
H.— 

E.M. 
F.C 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


285 


INDEX   TO   VOL.  VII. 


Abnormal  Cbrasticm,  259,  279. 

Abnormal  Rubus,  186. 

Absinthe,  116,  189, 

Absorption  of  Air  by  Plant-ticsues,  91. 

Abundance  of  Insect  Lite  in  the  Tropics, 

66. 
Acorns,  83. 

JEridiiim  statices,  156,  188. 
JEcophylhi  xmnragdinu,  127. 
African  Diamonds,  11. 
Air,  Absorption  of,  by  Plant-tissues,  91. 
Albinism  in  Plants  and  Animals,  2S1. 
Albino  Blackbirds,  208. 
Algre,  preserving:,  20. 
Algeria,  Bash-fires  in,  281. 
A  likely  Story.  IS. 
Along-  the  Shore,  253. 
American  Moth-trap,  216. 
America,  Sparrows  in.  215. 
American  Workshop,  Chips  from  an,  85. 
Amplification    of  Microscopic    Objects, 

236,  260. 
Anchovies,  17- 

Anecdotes,  twice-told,  192,  212,  237. 
Anemone  Infusoria,  115,  142. 
Anguis  fragilis,  160. 
Animals,  Kindness  to,  136. 
Ant  Guests,  231. 
Ant,  the  large  Wood-,  igs. 
Ant.  the  Yellow,  183. 
Antheu  cereus,  212. 
Ants,  17,  127,245. 
Ants  and  their  Slaves,  273. 
Ants,  Robber,  270. 
Ants,  White,  1,90. 
Apparatus  for  Sounding,  117,  137. 
Apple.  Germinating,  279. 
Aquaria,  Marine,    196,  256,  281. 
Aquarium,  a  Turbid,  93. 
Aquarium  Query,  46,  93. 
Arabia.  Butterflies  of,  137. 
Arge   Galathe.a,  Parasites  on,   233,   25S, 

262. 
Artificial  Swarming  of  Bees,  15. 
Ascent  of  Man,  165. 
A  Shark's  Meal,  17. 
August,  May  in,  210. 
Awbe,  119,  143. 


Baby  Hippopotamus,  88. 

Baby  Spiders,  is. 

Badgers,  41. 

Bait  for  Soles,  237,  261. 

Barbel,  Scale  of,  188. 

Barnacles,  112. 

Bath,  Insects  at,  229. 

Bath  White,  the,  263. 

Bat  in  Sunshine,  161,  215. 

Bat,  the  Vampire,  233,  277. 

Bats,  41. 

Bats,  out  in  Winter,  66. 

Beaks  of  Insectivorous  Birds,  226. 

Bee,  Fish-tail  hairs  on  Humble,  140. 

Bee  Orchid,  215,  239,  259,  279. 

Bees  and  Soot,  71,  11 6. 

Bees,  Artificial  Swarming  of,  15. 

Benzole  0.  Camphor,  93. 

Big  Trees  in  Missouri,  f  7. 

Big  Vines  at  the  South,  67. 

Birch,  the,  46. 

Bird-music,  233. 

Bird  Prognostication,  159. 

Birds  !  Birds!  10. 


Birds  and  Flowers,  63. 

Birds,  Beaks  of  Insectivorous,  226. 

Birds  '  Nests,  Extraordinary  Position  for, 

161. 
Birds  of  Europe  in  New  Zealand,  209. 
Birds,  the  Song  of,  92,  150. 
Birds,  to  Clean,  214. 
Blackbirds,  Albino,  208. 
Bleaching  Zoophytes,  143. 
Blind-worm,  the,  160. 
Blister-fly,  232. 
Blood,  Shower  of,  45. 
Blue-bottles  once  more,  261. 
Blue  Butterfly,  Scarcity  of  the  Common, 

277- 
Boilers,  Lime  Deposit  in,  23,  47. 
Bone  and  Teeth.  Sections  of,  14. 
Books,  New,  226. 

Borase,  Foreie-n  Names  of,  238,  281. 
Borax   and  Cockroaches,    11 7,   142,   166, 

168,214. 
Borrago,  139.  214,  239. 
Bosphorus,  Cormorants  in  the,  42. 
1  Botanical   Exchange  Club,    London,   96, 

ill,  117. 
Botany,  Prize  Competition,  274. 
Bother  the  Pigs  !  47- 
Boulder,  the  Story  of  a,  5,  94. 
Brazil,  Night-flies  in,  90. 
Brazil,  the  Cicada  in,  71 . 
Brighton,  Deinpeia  pulchetta  at,  234. 
British  Butterflies,  133. 
British  Butterflies  in  India,  209. 
British  Caterpillars,  Horned,  193. 
British  Cluster-cup,  New,  156. 
British  Coleoptera,  Books  on,  191. 
British  Desmids,  New,  44. 
British  Diatomacea;,  6S,  188. 
British  Fungi,  Handbook  of,  188,  226. 
British  Insects,  Defensive  Resources  of, 

248. 
British  Jelly-fi>hes,  237. 
British  Moss,  New,  199. 
British  Tortoises,  263. 
Brittany,  Notes  on  the  Fauna  of,  244. 
Broad,  on  The,  49,  94. 
Broom-rape,  Picris,  119. 
Budget  of  Queries,  143,  166,  167. 
Bullets  in  Mounting,  140. 
Bullfinches,  Captive,  154,  1S3. 
Bunt  of  Wheat  as  a  Lens,  92. 
Bush-fires  in  Algeria,  281. 
Bustard,  the  Great,  42,  66. 
Butterflies,  British,  133. 
Butterflies,  British,  in  India,  209. 
Butterflies  of  Arabia  and  Egypt,  137. 
Buxbaum's  Speedwell,  114,  139. 


Cala-witks,  202. 

Calceolaria  gracilis,  279- 

Cammocke,  114,  142. 

Campanula,  Double,  186. 

Camphor  v.  Benzole,  93. 

Canada  Goose,  156. 

Canada,  the  Firefly  in,  232. 

Canary,  Peculiarity  of  a  Hen,  238. 

Candle-snuff  Fungus.  77- 

Canine  Predilection  for  Fruit,  263,  283. 

Captive  Bullfinches,  154, 183. 

Carp,  Scales  of,  20,  140. 

Carrier  Pigeon  and  Plover,  229. 

Carrion  Crow,  158. 

Cat,  an  Intelligent,  8S. 


Catalogues  of  Insects,  138. 

Caterpillar,  Transformation  of  a  Hairy, 

65,  95. 
Caterpillars,  Horned  British,  193. 
Cat-ology,  185. 
Cats  in  Great  Britain,  162. 
Cause  of  Sleep,  1 19. 

Cells,  20,  22,  23,  44. 

Cells  in  Coleus,  237. 

Cement,  Foulkes's,  142. 

Cerastium,  Abnormal,  259,  279. 

Cheerocampa  celerio,  209. 

Chanting  Mice,  274. 

Chicken  with  four  legs,  258. 

Chips  from  an  American  Workshop,  85. 

Cholera,  the  Minaand  the,  87. 

Chrysanthemum,  the,  91. 

Cicada  in  Brazil,  7\. 

Cladodus  mirabilis,  21 . 

Clay,  Story  of  a  Lump  of,  125. 

Cleaning  Birds,  215. 

Cleaning  Diatoms,  105. 

Cleaning  Shells,  118. 

Cleaning  Skeletons,  165,   191,  213,  239, 

262. 
Clever  Tomtit,  82. 
Clifden  Nonpareil,  263. 
Cliffs,  Swallows  building  on,  233. 
Climbing  Rats,  47,66. 
Cluster-cup,  New  British,  156,  188. 
Cockchafers  and  their  Larvae,  167,  184. 
Cockroaches  and  Borax,  117,  142,166,214. 
Cockroaches,    Destruction   of,    190,   212, 

168,214. 
Cock  Robin,  18,  46,  70,  94. 
Coleoptera,  Books  on  British,  191. 
Coleus,  Cells  in,  237. 
Collecting-case,  Ireland's,  125. 
Conservatory,  Stove  for,  167. 
Coral,  Cleaning,  94,  U7- 
Coret/ira  plumicornis,  283. 
Cormorants  in  the  Bosphorus,  42. 
Cornish  Sucker,  206. 
Cornwall,  Depth  of  Soil  in,  70. 
Correction  of  Lenses,  117. 
Cotssold  Lion,  119,  142. 
Covering  Objects,  115. 
Cowslips  and  Primroses,  133. 
Cows,  Musical,  22. 
Crab  and  its  Claws,  95. 
Crab,  the  Hermit,  64. 
Crags,  Story  of  the,  271. 
Crass,  My,  "l3,  42. 
Crass,  the  Locomotion  of,  65. 
Crimson-speckled  Footman,  234, 239,  282, 

277. 
Croydon  Microscopical  Club,  141. 
Crustacea,  Moulting  of  the,  112. 
Cuckoo,  Early  Appearance  of  the,  ill. 
Cuckoo,  the,  158. 
Cultivation  influencing  the  Insect  World, 

66. 
Cuphen  platycentrn,  81. 
Curious  Friends,  118. 
Curious  Wood,  23. 
Currants,  Home-grown,  67. 
Cyclostoma  elegans,  42,  85, 
Cypress  of  Lomma,  71. 
Cyrenu  fluminalis,  162. 
Cystea  monfana,  26 1. 
Cystopus  Lepigoni,  259. 

Dahlia,  the,  46. 

Daisy,  the  Michaelmas,  67- 


2SG 


HARD  WICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


Darkling  Spiders,  12,  46,  152,  215. 
Defensive  Resources  of  British  Insect*, 

248. 
Deiupeia  pitlchella  at  Brighton,  Sec,  234, 

23y,  262,  277. 
Descent  of  Man,  1 12,  143. 
Desmids,  New  British,  44. 
Destruction  of  Plants  by  Goats,  70. 
Devon,  Zante  Currants  in,  1  14. 
Diamonds,  South  African,  11. 
Diatomacere,  British,  68,  188. 
Diatoms,  Cleaning:,  105. 
Dipterous  Larva?  under  Tortoise-shell,  41. 
Dissecting;  Microscope,  New,  44,  68. 
Dog  and  Monkey,  41 . 
Dog,  a  Street,  223. 
Dogs  and  Eggs,  283. 
Dogs  and  Fruit,  263,  283. 
Dogs,  Entozoa  in  the  Heart  of,  1S4. 
Dolomitic  Conglomerate,  Fossils  of  the, 

93,  143. 
Dos  a  Dos,  71. 
Double  Campanula.  180. 
Double  Orange,  106. 
Dragon-flies  in  the  Metropolis,  17,  40. 
Dredge,  Naturalists',  143. 
Dried    Flowers,    Preserving  Colours   of, 

279- 
Duck's  Egg,  Gigantic,  262. 
Duration  of  Pupa  State,  112. 

Early  Appearance    of  the   Clckoo, 

111. 
Early  Gardeners,  10,  43. 
Early  Visitors,  113. 
Earthquakes,  Law  of,  40. 
Earthworms,  IIS,  142,  143,  166,  167,  1S9, 

212,  202. 
Earwigs,  94,  116,  lig. 
Echinodermata,  45. 

Echinodermata,  Pedicellaria;  of,  42,  1 19. 
Eel-pout,  20,  30. 

Eels  in  Paste,  280. 

Eggar  Moth,  the  Small,  90,  113,  11 6,  16.5, 

213,  237,  257,  263. 

Eggar  Moth,  the  Oak,  213,  238,  262. 

Egg,  Double,  118. 

Egg  of  the  Kestrel,  237,  262. 

Eggs,  207,  262. 

Eggs,  Dogs  and,  283. 

Eggs,  Formation  of,  21. 

Eggs,  Hunting  for  Insects',  32. 

Eggs  of  Lepidoptera,  70,  93,  94. 

Eggs,  Tortoise,  2n8,  263. 

Elecampane,  129. 

Electric  Stockings,  45,  69. 

Elephant  Parasite,  131,  185,  211,  234. 

Elm,  the,  91. 

English  Herbs  as  substitutes  for  Gentian, 

116. 
English  Mocking-birds,  153. 
Entomological  Season  of  18/1 ,  208. 
Entozoa,  208. 

Entozoa  in  the  Heart  of  Dogs,  184. 
Ergotized  Grass,  279. 
Errata,  239,  262,  277. 
Errors,  Popular,  70,  92,  93,  11 7. 
European  Birds  in  New  Zealand,  209. 
Everlasting  Flowers.  239. 
Exchange  Club  for  Botanical  Specimens, 

96,  114,  117. 
Extraordinarv  Positions  for  Bird's  Nest, 

161. 
Eyestones,  21,  46,  69,  89,  93,  95. 
Eye,  the  Human,  31. 


Facts,  the  Year-hook  of,  71. 
Fasciation  in  (Enothera  biennis,  186. 
Field   Club  for  South-west  London,  92, 

116. 
Field  Clubs,  263,  283. 
Fiery-crested  Wren,  the,  88. 
Firefly  in  Canada,  232. 
Fishes,  how  they  breathe,  257. 
Fish  in  the  Jordan,  166,  189,  213. 
Fish  Scales,  20,  44,  140,  164,  lss,  236,  260, 

280. 
Fish,  Subterranean,  112. 
Fish-tail  Hairs  of  Humble-bee,  140. 
Flea,  Gizzard  of  the,  93. 
Flea,  Parasites  in  the  Interior  of  a,  88. 
Flea,  the,  155. 
Fleas!  Fleas!  07,  155, 
Flies,  Plague  of,  238. 


Flies,  Tennyson  on,  282. 

Flint  Flakes,  machine-made,  190. 

Floral  Stars,  210,  239. 

Floras,  Local,  163,  187,  212,  214,  259,  279, 

Flowers  and  Birds,  63. 

Flowers  and  Insects,  258,  2S2. 

Flowers,  Language  of,  91. 

Flowers,  Preserving    Colours  of    dried, 

279. 
i  Flowers,  Variations  in  Colour  of  Wild, 

270. 
]  Folk-Lorc,  213. 
Food  of  Spiders  in  Dark  Cellars,  215. 
Food  of  the  Weasel,  42. 
Forest,  a  Tropical,  94. 
Forest  Fires  in  the  United  States,  70. 
Formation  of  the  Hen's  Egg,  21. 
Fossil  Oolitic  Plants,  157,  212. 
Fossil  Plant  known  as  Calamite,  202. 
Fossils  of  the  Dolomitic  Conglomerate, 

93,  143. 
Foulkes's  Cement,  142. 
Fox-moth  Larvae,  263,  276,  283. 
Fox-moth,  the,  276. 
Freshwater  Molluscs,  89. 
Frog,  Lung  of  the,  92,  120. 
Fungi,  Handbook  of,  188. 
Fungi,  Luminous,  69,  91,  118. 
Fungi,  Microscopic,  236. 
Funci,  Polymorphic,  43. 
Fungus,  the  Candle-snuff,  77. 
Fungus  Theory,  the,  23. 
Furness  Abbey,  210. 
Furze  Mites,  236. 


Gardeners,  Early,  10,  43. 

Garden  Oracle,  47. 

Gas  Lantern,  Objective  for,  68. 

Gentian,  91,  119,  139,  143. 

Gentian.   English  Herbs  as    substitutes 
for,  116. 

Geology  Prize  Competition,  274. 

Germinating  Apple,  279. 

Gigantic  Duck-egg,  262. 

Gill  of  Swordfish,  136. 

Gipsy  Moth,  215. 

Gizzard  of  the  Flea,  93. 

Glass  Windows,  Hawks  and,  238. 

Glow-worm  Light,  207. 

Gntiphalium,  239. 

Gnat,  the,  108,  162,  191. 

Gnat,  the  Plumed,  18. 

Goat-moth,  the,  225. 

Goats,  Destruction  of  Plants  by,  70. 

Golden  Oriole,  the,  15S,  258. 

Gold-fish,  237. 

Goldilocks,  19. 

Good  little  Robin,  207. 
I  Good  Microscopes,  68. 
I  Goose,  Canada,  156. 
I  Goose,  Longevity  of  the,  112,  167. 
J  Gorgoniadm,  52,92,  112. 

Gossip  about  Locusts,  79. 

Grass,  Ergotized,  279. 

Grasses,  Preserving,  261. 

Grayling,  Scales  of  the,  104. 

Great  Bustard,  the,  42,  66. 

Great  Take  of  Honey,  282. 
I  Gregories,  47,  71. 
!  Griffithsia  corallina,  215. 
.  Guests  of  Ants,  231. 


Hairs  of  Plants,  S3,  204. 

Hairs  of  Sundew,  204. 

Hair-tail,  17,  88,  113. 

Hairy  Caterpillar,  Transformation  of,  65, 

95.' 
Handbook  of  British  Fungi,  188,  226. 
Hawfinch,  137,  184,  212,  213,  239,  202. 
Hawk  at  Fault,  207. 
Hawks,  159. 

Hawks  and  Glass  Windows,  238. 
Hawthorn  in  August,  210. 
Heartsease,  43,  163,  165,  191. 
Hemp  Agrimony,    116,  lSy. 
Henbane,  43. 

Hen,  Recollections  of  a,  282. 
Hermit  Crab,  the,  64. 
Hills  and  Valleys,  255. 
Hippopotamus,  a  Baby,  88. 
Histology,  201. 

Hollyberries,  Woodcocks  and,  69. 
Homegrown  Can-ants,  67. 


Home  of  the  Swallow-tail,  80. 
Honey,  Great  Take  of,  282. 
Horned  British  Caterpillars,  193. 
Hornet-sting,  143. 
How  Fishes  breathe,  257. 
Human  Eye,  the,  31. 
Hunting  for  Insects'  Eggs,  32. 
Hydra,  92. 
Ilysteriacei,  the,  281. 


Ice  in  the  Tropics,  28. 

Idolocoris  elephantis,  131,  185,  211,234. 

Illustrations  of  Mycology,  159. 

In  a  Tank,  22. 

India,  British  Butterflies  in,  209. 

Infusoria  from  Anemones,  ]  15,  142. 

Insectariums,  Public,  190,  231. 

Insect  Life,  Abundance  of, in  the  Tropics, 

66. 
Insect  Life,  Observations  on,  23. 
Insects  and  Flowers,  258,  282. 
Insects  at  Bath,  229. 
Insects,  Catalogues  of,  13S. 
Insects,  Defensive  Resources  of  British, 

248. 
Insects'  Eggs,  Hunting  for,  32,  94. 
Insects'  Scales,  Structure  of,  44. 
Insects,  Shower  of,  165. 
Insects,  Volition  in,  22. 
Insect  Vivariums,  267. 
Instinct,  Natural,  65. 
Introductions,  New,  10,  95. 
Ireland's  Collecting-case,  125. 
Ireland,  Trichiurus  in,  113. 
Is  the  Landrail  a  Bird  of  Passage  ?  45,  70, 

71,90,9-1. 


Jelly-fishes,  British,  237. 

Jet,  117. 

Jet,  a  Piece  of,  What  it  had  to  say,  "3. 

Jordan,  Fish  in  the,  166,  189,  213. 


Kestrel,  my,  62,  88. 
Kestrel's  Egg,  237,  262. 
Kindness  to  Animals,  136. 
Kingfisher,  the,  34. 


Labels  for  Mosses,  22. 

Laburnum,  46. 

Ladybird,  Local  Name  for,  212. 

Landrail,  the,  Is  it  a  Bird  of  Passage  : 

45,  70,  71,  90.  94. 
Language  of  Flowers,  91. 
Larch  Blossoms,  139. 
Large  Pear,  a,  67, 
Large  Tortoiseshell  Butterfly,  234. 
Large  Wood-ant,  198. 
Larks  as  Song-birds,  105. 
Lark,  the,  245. 
Larva?  ot  Cockchafer,  184. 
Larvae  of  Fox-moth,  263,  276,  277,  283. 
Lnstrcea  cristata,  2/9. 
Law  of  Earthquakes,  40. 
Lead,  Sounding,  117. 
Leaves,  Monstrous,  279. 
Leaves,  Skeleton,  252. 
Lenses,  Correction  of,  1 17. 
Lepidoptera,  Eggs  of,  70,  93,  94. 
Leporids,  17. 

Lite  beneath  the  Waves,  220. 
Life,  Origin  of,  211. 
Light  of  the  Glow-worm,  2117. 
Lignite,  the  Story  of  a  Piece  of,  1 45. 
Lime  Deposit  in  Boilers,  23,  47. 
Lirnneu  glabra,  17. 
Limnea  glutintsa,  230. 
Liparis  dispar,  215. 
Loach,  Scales  of,  280. 
Local  Floras,  163,  187,  212,  214,  259,  279. 
Local  Name  for  Ladybird,  212. 
Locomotion  of  Crass,  05. 
Locust  Gossip,  79. 
Locust  Ravages,  47. 
Locust-tree,  259. 
London    Botanical  Exchange    Club,  96, 

114,  117. 
London,  Field  Club  for  South-west,  92 

116. 
Longevity  of  the  Goose,  112,  1O7. 
Loose-strife,  19,  47. 
Lotus,  the,  19,  118,  142,  166. 


HARDWICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


2S7 


Love  of  Natural  History,  39. 

I 

Night-flies  in  Brazil,  90. 

1 

Pterodina  valvata,  88. 

Luminous  Fungi,  69,  91,  118. 

North  London  Naturalists'  Club 

,23,  141. 

Public  Insectariums,  igo,  231. 

Luminous  Plants,  121,  191,243. 

Nostoc  commune,  260. 

Pupre,  Preservation  of,  in  Winter,  112. 

Lung  of  the  Frog;,  92,  120. 

Notes  at  Nansladron,  15S. 

Pupa  State,  Duration  of  the,  1 12. 

Lythraceee,  18?. 

Notes  on  Rotifers,  110. 

Purbeck  Marble,  what  it  had  to  say,  217. 

Notes  ou  the  Fauna  of  Brittany, 

244. 

Pursuit  of  Science  under  Difficulties,  1  tit j. 
Puttocks,  119,  137. 

Machine-made  Flint  Flakes 

,  190. 

Mad  Stones,  213. 

Oak  Eggar-motii  ,213,  238,  262 

Man,  Ascent  of,  166. 

Oak  Galls,  240. 

Quartz,  Story  of  a  Piece  or,  241. 

Man,  Descent  of,  112,  1 13. 

Objective  for  Gas  Lantern,  68. 

Quekett  Club  Soiree,  92. 

Manchester,  Sea-birds  in,  89. 

Objects,  Covering,  115. 

Quekett  Microscopical  Club,  115,  141. 

Manna,  Tamarisk,  45,  70. 

Objects,  Microscopic,  64. 

Queries,  a  Budget  of,  143,  166,  167. 

Manuscript  Magazine  of  Natural  History, 

Observations  on  Insect  Life,  23. 

Queries,  Ornithological,  1  ly. 

2S3. 

(Enothera  biennis,  Fasciati<>n  in 

186. 

Query,  Aquarium,  16,  93. 

Marble,  what  was  said  by  the 

Purbeck, 

Old  Change  Microscopical  Club, 

141. 

21;. 

On  Cleaning  Diatomaceous  Gatherings, 

"'  Marco  Polo  "  Opossum,  14S. 

105. 

Ragwort,  215,  238. 

Marine  Aquaria,  19",  256,  281. 

On  The  Broad,  49,  94. 

Ruin,  Yellow,  189. 

Markings  on  Podura  Scale,  205. 

Oolitic  Fossil  Plants,  157,  212. 

Ramble  by  the  Seashore,  101. 

Marygold,  the,  19. 

Opercula,  93. 

Rare  Plants,  259. 

Matthews',  Dr.,  Turntable,  6S. 

Ophioglossum  vulgatum.  Monstrous,  I87. 

Rather  alarming  !  20S. 

May  in  August,  210. 

Opossum,  "Marco  Polo,"  148. 

Rats,  200. 

Melicerta  ring  ens,  164. 

Orange,  a  Double,  106. 

Rat  Sagacity,  161. 

Memory  in  a  Wolf,  232. 

Orange  Peziza,  275. 

Rats,  Climbing,  47,  66,  161. 

Men,  Rich,  223. 

Orange-tip  Butterfly,  16 1,  208,  238. 

Ravages  of  Locusts.  47. 

Metropolis,  Dragon-flies  in  the, 

17,  46. 

Orchid,  the  Bee,  215,  239,  259,  2; 

9- 

Recollections  of  a  Hen,  282. 

Mice,  Chanting,  274. 

Origin  of  Life.  211. 

Remarkable  Spring.  69. 

Michaelmas  Daisy,  67. 

Oriole,  the  Golden,  158. 

Remedy  wanted,  283. 

Micrographic  Dictionary,  260. 

Ornithological  Queries,  119- 

Retentiveness  of  Memory  in  a  Wolf,  232. 

Microscope,  New,  44,  fi8. 

Other  Side  ot  the  Vivarium,  267 

Retinal  variable  Sensibility,  243. 

Microscopes,  Good,  68. 

Otis  tarda,  42. 

Iiltagium  bifusciutum,  215,  232. 

Microscopical  Clubs,  92,  115,  141 

• 

Otter-hunting,  161. 

Rich  Men,  223. 

Microscopic  Fungi,  236. 

Otters,  17,  89,  161,  189. 

Ring  Ouzel,  257. 

Microscopic  Objects,  64,  140,  164 

• 

Oxlip,  Primrose,  115,  133,  163. 

Robber  Ants,  270. 

Microscopy  in  New  York,  44. 

Robin  Redbreast,  76. 

Microscopy.   Prize  Competition, 

274. 

Robin,  the,  is,  30,  46,  70,  76,  94,  1 16,  207. 

Mimicry,  Protective,  204,  248. 

Pansy,  tiik,  43,  163,  165,  191. 

Rock  Salt,  the  Story  ol,  25. 

Mina  and  the  Cholera,  87. 

Papilio  Larvse,  the  Y-shaped  C 

rgan  of, 

Rooks,  137,  158,  161. 

Minnow,  Scale  of,  44. 

224. 

Rotifers,  Notes  on,  110. 

Misprints,  21. 

Parasites,  New  Forms  of,  131, 

1S5,   211, 

Missel-thrush  !>.   Squirrel,  131, 

189,  214, 

234. 

237,  238,  256,  257,  278. 

/ 

Parasites  on  Arge  Galathea,  233 

258, 262. 

Saffron,  281. 

Missouri,  Big  Trees  in,  67. 

Parus  Cauda tus,  276. 

Sagacity  of  Rats,  161. 

Mocking-birds,  English,  153. 

Paste  Eels,  280. 

Sand-wasp,  237. 

Modern  Scepticism,  224. 

Pear,  a  Large,  67. 

Scales  of  Fish,  20,  44,  140,  164,  1SS,  236, 

Mole  Flea,  Parasites  in  the  Interior  of  a, 

Peculiarity  of  Hen  Canary,  238. 

26(1,  280. 

88. 

Pedicellarire  of  Echinodermata, 

&C,    12, 

Scales  of  Podura,  Markings  on,  205. 

Molluscs,  Freshwater,  89. 

119. 

Scarcity  of  the  Common  Blue  Butterfly, 

Monkey  and  Dog,  41. 

Pelopaius,  or  Sand-wasp,  237. 

277- 

Monotremata,  224. 

Perch,  Scales  of,  260. 

Science,  Pursuit  of  under  Difficulties,  166. 

Monstrous  Leaves,  279. 

Peregrine  Falcon,  113. 

Sea  and  its  Wonders,  84. 

Monstrous  Ophioglossum  nulgat 

urn,  187. 

Periwinkle  and  its  Shell,  90,  1 18 

Sea  Birds  in  Manchester,  S9. 

Monstrous  Wallflower,  186. 

Peziza,  the  Orange,  275. 

Sea  Fans,  52. 

Monthly  Microscopical  Journal, 

18S. 

Phryganea?  283. 

Seashore,  a  Ramble  by  the,  101 . 

Moss  Labels,  22. 

Picris  Broom  Rape,  119. 

Seaside,  a  Spring  'Morning1  at  the,  220. 

Moss,  New  British,  199- 

Pieris  daplidice,  263. 

Sea  Urchins,  65,  90. 

Moths,  Processionary,  106,  185, 

209,  239. 

Pigeon  Posts,  46. 

Sections  of  Bone  and  Teeth,  14. 

Moths  wanted,  I89. 

Pigs  !  bother  the,  47- 

Seeking  Protection,  209. 

Moth,  the  Fox,  263,  276,  277,  283. 

Pike,  Scale  of  the,  236. 

Shamrock,  43. 

Moth,  the  Goat,  225. 

Pineapple,  the,  82,  114,  117,  143, 

187. 

Shark's  Meal,  a,  17- 

Moth-trap,  the  American,  2 1 6. 

Pistillody,  230. 

Shells,  Cleaning,  118. 

Moulting  of  the  Crustacea,  112. 

Pitcher-plants,  235. 

Shore,  along  the,  253. 

Movable  Table,  115. 

Plague  ol  Flies,  238. 

Shower  of  Blood,  45. 

Musical  Cows,  22. 

Plantain,  210. 

Shower  of  Insects,  165. 

Music  of  Birds,  233. 

Plant  Names,  259. 

Shrew,  White,  283. 

Mussel,  Movements  of  the,  89. 

Plants,  Fossil  Oolitic,  157,  2' 2. 

Silver-striped  Hawk-moth,  209. 

Mycological  Illustrations,  159. 

Plants,  Luminous,  121,  191,  243. 

Simethis  bicolor,  lfi3. 

My  Crass,  13. 

Plants,  Stellate  Hairs  of,  83. 

Singular  Freak  of  Nature,  118. 

My  Kestrel,  62,  88. 

Plants,  to  send  fresh  by  post,  25 

9. 

Si)  ex  juvenilis,  166,  214,  215. 

Myrtle,  the,  19. 

Plover  and  Carrier  Pigeon,  229. 

Plumed  Gnat,  the,  18. 

Podura  Scale,  Markings  on,  205 

Size  of  Snake,  278. 

Skeleton  Leaves,  252. 

Skeletons,   Cleaning,   165,  191,  213,  239, 

Natural  Histokv,  Love  of,  39. 

Pollen  for  the  Microscope,  140, 

164. 

262. 

Natural  History,  Manuscript  Magazine  of, 

Polymorphic  Fungi,  43. 

Skin  of  Snake,  262. 

283. 

Pomarine  Skua,  the,  66. 

Skua,  the  Pomarine,  66. 

Natural  History  Specimens,  Transmission 

Popular  Errors,  70,  92,  93,  11 7. 

Skylarks  in  New  Zealand,  66. 

by  Post,  191,  215,  235,  259. 

Posting  Natural  History  Specimens,  191, 

Slave  Ants,  273. 

Natural  Instinct,  65. 

215,  235,  259. 

Sleep,  the  Cause  of,  119. 

Naturalists'  Clubs,  23. 

Prawn,  the,  65. 

Slides  for  Opaque  Objects,  236. 

Naturalist's  Dredge,  143. 

Preservation  of  Specimens,  151. 

Small  Eggar,  90,  113,  116,   165,213,  237, 

Natural  Selection,  42,  70. 

Preserving  Algpe,  20. 

257,  263. 

Nest  of  Tomtit,  162. 

Preserving  Grasses,  &c,  261. 

Snake,  Size  of,  278, 

New  Books,  225. 

Preserving  Pupae  through  the 

Winter, 

Snake's  Skin,  262. 

New  British  Desmids,  44. 

112. 

Snakes,  Wild  Beasts  and,  265. 

New  British  Moss,  199. 

Primrose,  a  Triple,  139. 

Snipe,  282. 

New  Dissecting  Microscope,  44, 

68. 

Primrose  Oxlip,  115,  133,  163. 

Snow,  Red,  43. 

New  Forms  of  Parasites,  131, 

1S5,   211, 

Primroses  and  Cowslips,  133. 

Soil,  Depth  of,  in  Cornwall,  70. 

234. 

Primroses  changing  Colour,  167. 

Soiree  of  the  Quekett  Club,  92. 

New  Introductions,  10,  95. 

Prize  Competition  in  Botany, 

Geology, 

Soles,  Bait  for,  237,  261. 

Newts,  HI,  143,  166. 

and  Microscopy,  274. 

Song  Larks,  105. 

New  York,  Microscopy  in,  44. 

Processionary  Moths,  106,  185,  209,  239. 

Song  of  Birds,  92,  150. 

New  Zealand,  European  Birds  in.  209. 

Protective  Mimicry,  204,  248. 

Soot,  Bees  and,  71,  116. 

New  Zealand,  Skylarks  in,  66. 
Nidification,  185. 

Protective  Resemblance,  237. 

Sounding  Apparatus,  117,  13". 

Protest,  a,  235. 

South  African  Diamonds,  1 1 . 

2SS 


HARDTVICKE'S    SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 


South  London  Microscopical  Club,  141. 
Sparrows  in  America,  215. 
Specimens,  Preservation  of,  151. 
Speedwell,  Buxbaum's,  114,  139. 
Spiders,  12,  IS,  35,46,  231. 
Spiders,  Baby,  IS. 
Spiders,  Darkling,  12,  46,  152,  215. 
Spiders,  Food  of,  in  Dark  Cellars,  215. 
Sponge  Spicules,  28u. 
Spring,  a  Remarkable,  6o. 
Spring  Morning  at  the  Seaside,  220. 
Spring  Visitors,  138. 
Squirrels,  23;.  257,  278,  281. 
Squirrel, "  Ti,"  the  Pet.  103. 
Squirrel  v.  Missel-thrush,   131,  189,   214, 
237,  238,256,  257,  278. 

Stag  Beetle,  283. 
Star-fish,  8,  41. 

Star-fish,  Pedicellariae  of,  42, 119. 
Starlings,  258. 
Stars,  Floral,  210,  239. 
Stellate  Hairs  of  Plants,  S3. 
Sting  of  Hornet,  143. 
Stings,  261,282. 
Stockings.  Electric,  45,  69. 
Stone,  under  a,  35. 
Story,  a  likely,  IS. 
Story  of  a  Boulder,  5,  94. 
Story  of  a  Lump  of  Clay,  125. 
Story  of  a  Piece  of  Lignite,  145. 
Story  of  a  Piece  of  Quartz,  241. 
Story  of  a  Piece  of  Rock  Salt,  25. 
Story  of  the  "Crags,"  271. 
Stove  for  Conservatory,  167. 
Street  Dog,  a,  223. 
Strepsodus,  Teeth  of,  45. 
Structure  of  Insects'  Scales,  44. 
Subterranean  Fish,  112. 
Sucker,  Cornish,  206. 
Summer  Migrants,  137. 
Sundew,   Hairs  of,  204. 
Sunshine,  Bat  in,  161,  215. 
Swallows,  209. 

Swallows  building  on  Cliffs,  233. 
Swallow-tail  Butterfly,  113. 
Swallow-tail,  Home  of  the,  80. 
Swordfish,  Gill  of,  136. 


Table,  Movable,  lis. 
Tamarisk  Manna,  45,  70. 
Tank,  in  a,  22. 


Tea-chests,  142. 

Teeth  and  Bones,  Sections  of,  14. 

Teeth  of  Strepsodus,  45. 

Tennyson  on  Flies,  282. 

Theory,  the  Fungus,  23. 

Thuidium  decipiens,  199. 

"  Ti,"  a  Pet  Squirrel,  103. 

Titmice,  34,  65,  71. 

Tit,  the  Blue,  65. 

Tomtit,  a  Clever,  82. 

Tomtit.  Nest  of,  162. 

Tordylium  maximum,  163. 

Toronto  University,  258. 

Tortoise  Eggs,  20S,  263. 

Tortoises,  British,  263. 

Tortoise-shell,  Dipterous   Larva?  under, 

41. 
Transformation    of  a  Hairy  Caterpillar, 

65. 
Trawl,  the,  169. 
Tritium-its  Upturns,  17,  88,  113. 
Trifolium  stellatum,  235. 
Triniicria  Regina,  115. 
Triple  Primrose,  139. 
Tritons,  142,  166. 
Tropical  Forest,  a,  94. 
Tropics,  Abundance  of  Insect  Life  in  the, 

66. 
Tropics,  Ice  in  the,  28. 
Tsetse,  the,  66. 
Turbid  Aquarium,  93. 
Turntable,  Dr.  Matthews',  68. 
Twice-told  Anecdotes,  192,  212,  237. 


Under  a  Sto.ve,  35. 
United  States,  Forest  Fires  in,  70. 
Uruster  rubens,  8,  41. 
Urchins,  Sea,  65. 


Valleys  and  Hills,  255. 
Vampire  Bat,  233,  277. 
Vanessa  polychloro*.  116,  234. 
Variations   in  Colour  of  Wild   blowers, 

270. 
Varieties,  White,  191,201,  210,  235,  239, 

281. 
Veronica  Buxbaumii,Q\,  139. 
Vines  at  the  South,  67. 
Violets,  166. 
Vivarium,  other  Side  of  the,  267. 


Volition  in  Insects,  22. 
Vulcanite  Cells,  22,  23. 

Wakon  Bird,  212. 

Wallflower,  Monstrous,  186. 

Wandering  Weeds,  67. 

Wanted,  a  Remedy,  283. 

Water-snake,  142,  165,  167. 

Weasel,  Food  of  the,  42. 

Weeds,  Wandering,  67. 

What  the  Piece  of  Jet  had  to  say,  73. 

What  the  Piece  of  Purbeck  Marble  had  to 

say,  217. 
What  to  look  for,  236. 
Wheat  Bunt  as  a  Lens,  92. 
White  Ants,  1,  90. 
White  Shrew,  283. 
White  Strawberry,  191. 
White  Varieties,  191,  201,210,235,239, 

281. 
Who  killed  Cock  Robin  ?  18,  46,  70,  94. 
Wild  Beasts  and  Snakes,  265. 
Wild  Flowers,  Variation  in  Colours  of, 

270. 
Willow-leaves  for  Yeast,  117. 
Windhovering,  206. 
Winter,  Bats  out  in,  66. 
Winter  Preservation  of  Pupa;,  112. 
Wolf,  Retentive  Memory  in  a,  232. 
Wonders,  the  Sea  and  its,  S4. 
Wood,  Curious,  23. 
Wood-ant,  the  Large,  198. 
Woodcocks  and  Hollyberries,  69. 
Wood,  Curious,  23. 
Woodlark,  233,  263. 
Woodruff,  the,  238. 
Woolhope  Transactions,  226. 
Wren,  the  Fiery-crested,  88. 
Wryneck,  the,  87. 

Xylaria  hypoxyi.ox,  77. 

Year-Book  of  Facts,  71. 

Yeast,  Willow-leaves  for,  117. 

Yellow  Ant,  the,  183. 

Yellow  Rain,  189. 

Y-shaped  Organ  of  Papilio  Larva?,  224. 

Zante  Currants  in  Devon,  114. 
Zoophytes,  bleaching,  143. 


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